Parliamentary Budget Office warns Uhuru on possible flop of his legacy strategy

Will President Uhuru Kenyatta manage to achieve his big four agenda? The head of state has prioritised Universal Health, Affordable housing, Food security and manufacturing as a strategy to give him a legacy. However, his development plans could collapse if corruption cartels continue running the economy as per the warning by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

The team of economists and tax experts who advise MPs on the budget and the economy, further identified five sectors — Agriculture, Health, Education, Transport and Manufacturing — as the main breeding grounds for graft.

Their conclusions are contained in a 73-page report. The report gives a detailed analysis on how the cartels have infiltrated the country’s most productive economic sectors.

This, even as hardworking Kenyans struggle to put food on their tables.“The cartels are everywhere, permeating almost every sector, but are most notable in the Transport, Agriculture, Manufacturing, education and health sectors,” reads the report dubbed “Budget Options for 2019/20 and the Medium Term.”

“Not unless the cartel menace is decisively dealt with, it will continue to stagnate economic growth and development despite any major policies and budgetary allocations the Government may put in place to enhance the living standards of Kenyans.”

According to the report, in agriculture, the shadowy characters have infiltrated the maize sector, where they control maize prices and distribution of fertiliser and seeds.The fraudsters give farmers adulterated fertiliser and sit in dark corners to savour their ill-gotten billions as farmers wait for maize that never germinates.

“The cartel stranglehold on the agriculture sector manifests itself even before the first seed is planted,” indicates the PBO report.It adds that middle-men have swept the sector, buying maize cheaply from desperate farmers before reselling exorbitantly.

“The farmers are forced to dispose their produce at a throwaway price and the middle men resell at a much higher price, reaping profits that the farmer can only dream of,” the report states.

“The middlemen set the price and have captured the market such that any farmer who attempts to venture beyond the control of the middlemen is promptly ostracised from the market…”

In the health sector, the fat cats steal from the sick, pocketing billions through illegal drug distribution channels, while patients die on their hospital beds.The report has warned that universal healthcare may remain wishful thinking unless the cartels are run out of town.

“Though these cartels are faceless, their power and influence has negatively affected the provision of quality and affordable healthcare. Universal health coverage cannot be achieved, unless all Government hospitals are adequately supplied with medicine, among other medical facilities,” reads the report.

In education, the thieves are involved in the publishing and distribution of school text books.

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