
Jonathan (@JonathanMBR@mstdn.social)
Attached: 1 image Currently there is #RejectFinanceBill2024 counter protests in Eldoret, probably mobilised youths, singing war songs. For starters, Eldoret is the hometown of President Ruto.
Can someone school me on the Tax concerns? Does Kenya tend to squander Tax money? Kenya seems like one of the few Competent African countries right now, so not sure if this is just folks hating on tax, or Kenya having a record of squandering tax dollars. Modern nations need taxes to expand and fund shyt to make the country competitive for the future.
Both Chinese and commercial lenders have exerted a constraining influence on Kenya’s overall debt management strategy. Fears that a clause in Kenya’s Eurobonds could see any debt relief interpreted as default – potentially triggering a full loan recall – initially prevented Kenya from accessing the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in 2020. When Kenya eventually joined the DSSI, its full impact was limited to the first half of 2021 as China unilaterally refused any extension beyond that date.
With African countries also effectively shut out from international markets under current global conditions, Kenya is reluctantly reverting to costly syndicated loans to supplement inflows from the IMF and World Bank in bridging the 2024 Eurobond gap, while juggling other schemes to address short-term exchange pressures such as an oil credit agreement.
Compounding China’s inflexibility, Kenya’s much-prized market access has managed to be both an obstacle to relief and often inaccessible when needed.
Although the repayment of the SGR loans has been onerous, there should have been far greater concern about the railway’s inflated construction costs and its consistent failure to generate revenue despite government intervention to mandate cargo traffic.
This is a legacy of poor Kenyan decision-making and a planning process driven more by short-term electioneering than strategic need. Chinese lending was one component of a surge in borrowing under the Kenyatta administration which saw Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio rise from 42 to 69 per cent between 2013 and 2020.
Controversies over China should not obscure the ways in which the structures of the global financial system and the dynamics of domestic governance interact to drive debt distress.
Fiscal consolidation aimed at addressing the resulting debt pressure and retaining IMF support has been a defining feature of the Ruto administration’s first nine months in office, with the removal of government subsidies on food and fuel now joined by proposed tax increases.
Such measures are proving deeply unpopular with Kenyan citizens already feeling the strain of high inflation and currency depreciation, and many have sought to highlight a disparity with the government’s unwillingness to reduce its own expenditure and wastage – most notably a bloated appointments system.
He also framed it as if black Americans weren’t kidnapped and killed for protesting white supremacy which would be a very uninformed thing to say.To be fair, the way you framed ya previous post does come off a way. I would of simply said Africans are fighting European influences as well as African officials who are either puppets or ethnic group biased.
There is no “up” from the United States so it makes no sense for Black Americans to “flee” to a country in worse condition.. which makes their struggles unique![]()
Basically the gist is this:
I'd also add eurobonds are great in times of prosperity for developing nations but poison pills when you have a pandemic, multiple wars, energy prices skyrocketing, a reeling Chinese economy, and the FED raising interest rates.
Kenyatta spent way too much, Ruto is responding by taxing the citizens way too much. Not sure how Kenya gets right without high taxation or austerity without some sort of loan forgiveness. A cycle that plagues Africa.
Power to the people![]()
gotcha. I guess because I don't know what Kenyas books look like I don't want to form an opinion based on assumptions. If Kenya looked at their books and trimmed fat and identified ways to eliminate waste and Tax increase was the next step then I can't be mad, because the concept of "over-taxation" can be subjective especially dealing with common folk. But if this is a case of historical mismanagement and just doing shyt for more money to be able to mismanage then yeah that sucks.
Power to the people![]()
He’s buying time due to the advice of his Western backers.
They will force the bill. After all, his government hasn’t rejected the IMF loan
He really doesn’t!Smh, whole neighborhood a mess. Julius Nyerere doesn’t get enough credit for the nation building work he did in Tanzania.
To this day a night and day difference between TZ and Kenya.Smh, whole neighborhood a mess. Julius Nyerere doesn’t get enough credit for the nation building work he did in Tanzania.
He had no choice. The people weren't having it shout out to the heroic people of Kenya.I respect it, he recognized he lost the mandate of the people here and that he needed to go in a different direction.
it wont make up for the young men who lost their lives but its an important for step