The cake baked last year was worth about Ksh.5.2 trillion. Part of it we baked with our taxes and service fees. The rest we borrowed at home and away. And the report is out.Some 83 per cent of the cake went into recurrent expenditure. Only 17 per cent went into development. Tonight on my sense, I am reflecting on the ordinary Kenyan’s daily life and drawing a parallel with the Government of Kenya.You see, in your typical household: father, mother and a few children, money is a critical question.Families have targets and priorities. If they do not own the home they live in, there is rent to pay. There is water, electricity, food, school fees and all the other essentials that make life bearable, even at the most basic level.If both parents are lucky enough to have a regular income, they must plan. They must share responsibilities. Because running a home, any home, requires practical decisions.Children have demands. When they are young, perhaps it is toys and little things that bring them joy. As they grow older, the demands become bigger.But the children have no income of their own. They depend on the parents.And sane parents understand that while entertainment and comfort matter, they cannot come at the expense of the household’s basic needs.The adults in the room must decide where they want to take the family; in the short term, the medium term and, importantly, the long term.T...
This page contains an attributed headline and the preview text supplied through the publisher’s RSS feed. Copyright in the original reporting belongs to Citizen Digital.
