Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua stated on Wednesday, May 10, that Kenya’s economy will recover within a year, contradicting the timeline given by Prime Cabinet Secretary (CS) Musalia Mudavadi.
Speaking in Runda, Nairobi, where he addressed mourners at the home of Nyeri Member of the County Assembly, Anastacio Gichohi Kabaire, who had lost his wife Elizabeth Waigumo.
"The economy is recovering, and in one year, we will have recovered. We thank God for the rains. There is no starvation anymore because of the rains,
"We will have a bumper harvest. There will be enough food for consumption and sale. Our food security will improve," noted Gachagua.
He attributed the projected growth to the rains in different parts of the country for the past two months.
However, Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi had given a longer timeline for economic recovery than Gachgua.
On April 15, Mudavadi asserted that the economy will take two to three years to recover.
“I am telling you as someone who has been the Minister of Treasury, it will take us two or three years for us to get relief from the hole we were put in,” he stated.
Mudavadi blamed the handshake government of former President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for agreeing to the expensive Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract.
“For one project alone, through your taxes, the Government of Kenya must look for Ksh80 billion in a year to repay,” he uttered.
Due to the economic slump, the government proposed new taxes in a bid to collect more revenue in the Finance Bill 2023. The bill is set to be debated in parliament.
Some of the additional tax measures include 5 per cent excise tax on fake beards, fake eyebrows, and fake eyelashes.
