YVONNE'S TAKE: Just how low is our trust of government intentions?

Do you trust your government? Do you trust them to always do what is right for you? Do you think they make decisions that are in your best interests? I ask this because, from what we are seeing lately, I am not sure how to answer that question.

From Maisha Namba, to affordable housing, Social Health Insurance Fund to the new university funding model. Adani taking over big deals in energy and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). Even with printing our own money, in a faraway land. Remember the initial secrecy surrounding the identity of the German firm that had been awarded the tender? Let’s even throw in the Finance Bills of 2023 and 2024.
What do they all have in common? Mistrust. Doubt. From the people of Kenya.

Why? Well, look at how they are implemented. Most are rushed, the procurement processes towards their implementation are almost always initially shrouded in secrecy. The most common words you hear now are restricted tendering, classified tendering, or direct procurement. And we are always given some reason for this lack of openness, avoiding corruption, or like in the case of the money-printing tender, we were told that it was due to a looming stockout of currency notes. And these responses come after relentless questioning from the people. The information is hardly provided voluntarily by the government.

Government officials hardly take the time to speak to us, involve us in these grand plans they have for us and our loved ones. Instead, they begin with denials, rebuttals, and then when they eventually admit it, they are on the defensive. Worse still, they are condescending. They know better than we do. We don’t understand the economy. They do. And any questions are met with such resistance and offensive responses.

Take for instance the Adani deal. Kenyans did not hear about this proposal from the government. It took the relentless Nelson Amenya on the X platform to reveal that there was even such a deal in the offing. Response from government? Deny, deny, deny. Then an attempt to silence him and anyone else who dared to speak of it. And finally, acceptance of such a deal. Thereafter, it was what we now term as mchezo wa taoni. Inability to explain key aspects of the deal. How it was procured, how much we are paying for it, how long they will run our airports. The back and forth. At some point, you have seen the posts by the President’s advisor, basically shutting down anyone questioning him and all these deals. The admittance, at that high level of corruption, its justification even.

And haven’t we seen the same with such a key plank as National Health Insurance? Government officials who are implementing this plan can barely give satisfactory answers to a very simple question, why? Why SHIF and not NHIF? Why the hefty amounts? Why register again? Why certain companies have been procured for the digital system, what is their mandate?

I could go into the questions of the other projects like the affordable housing one and its levy and many others, but I know you know what those questions are because you have been asking them. The courts have then validated Kenyans’ doubts and fears. The three words unconstitutional, null, and void have rung loud in the last 2 years. Finance Act 2023, the appointment of CASs, SHIF laws, and the recent Privatization Act. All struck out for lack of public participation.

So, why aren’t they involving us in these projects that are supposed to be paid for by us, through our taxes, and to supposedly benefit us? Why the secrecy, why the disdain from government officials when we ask questions? It is this behavior of government officials that has continuously eroded trust in our government and the doubt that they have our best interests in mind when implementing these big projects worth billions of shillings.

Folks, if you ask me, our biggest problem in this country is that we have a huge trust deficit. Who can blame us? They say one thing and do another, they say one thing and flip-flop tomorrow. They try to shut us down when we ask questions…in such an instance, there can only be one assumption to make…