Review abandonment of big public projects
Plans by the Ruto government to abandon projects started by the previous administration are disturbing.
A change of leadership after elections is not necessarily a good reason to disrupt ongoing initiatives meant for the people’s benefit. A review to reprioritise some of the programmes is needed to ensure continuity.
President William Ruto has made it clear that there will be some drastic changes, and targeted are some capital-intensive projects. The programmes may have come up during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure but they were in response to the tangible needs of Kenyans.
The new leadership says it wants to focus on revenue collection and reduction of the public debt. That sounds like a reasonable response to serious national challenges. The country needs to boost tax collection and seal the loopholes through which government revenue is perennially lost.
The government is under pressure to increase annual revenue collection to Sh3 trillion amid a ballooning public debt and the challenge of funding multibillion-shilling projects.
But the constitutional requirement of public participation appears to have been ignored. The decision sounds like an edict from the leadership. The Executive must always enable Kenyans to have a say in decisions that directly affect them.
White elephants
Stringent measures are needed to ensure that government spending is within its means. Massive resources have gone into these projects that risk becoming white elephants. These investments must not go to waste. In fact, that is why the bid to revive the stalled mega dams in the Rift Valley is welcome.
Halting Uhuru legacy projects for political considerations are likely to have disadvantages. Instead of attempting to personalise the matter, there is a need for continuity to enhance progress.
A change of occupancy at the State House should never lead to a reversal of development plans and policies. The projects were planned, approved, budgeted for and funds allocated for them.
Some of them are at an advanced stage of implementation and should be completed to benefit the taxpayers.
