| Reflections on the Budget |
 | Reflections on the Budget Speech
Yesterday, 11th June 2009, the
current Finance Minister, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta read his maiden budget to a packed
House. The initial indications are that the budget has been quite
well-received. But what does this budget really mean for Kenyans?
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| Budget Speech 2009 |
 | The Budget Speech 2009
Presented below is the full text of the Budget Speech the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta read out before parliament yesterday. It is presented in Scribd format for easy searching and scrolling through.
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| A warning before time: the AngloDisease |
 | A warning before time: the AngloDisease
In the 70s, the Economist coined the label "Dutch Disease" to describe
the economic travails of the Netherlands as the country's
export-oriented industrial sector struggled with the increased exchange
rates caused by the rapid growth in gas exports that followed the
discovery and development of the massive Groningen field.
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| Chamaa mentality for Kenyan transformation |
Chamaa mentality for Kenya's transformation
In the Aberdares,
a small group of villagers got fed up with waiting for the government's
electrification programme to reach them and decided to take matters
into their own hands. They formed an electricity company, the Gatiki
Electrical Company, in which they had bought shares of 10,000/- each.
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| On Maize Flour Prices |
 | Open Thread - On Maize Flour Prices
Over the past four to five weeks , Kenyans have been forking out in
excess of a hundred shillings (Ksh. 100/-) for a packet of maize flour
to satisfy the national craving for ugali - a staple food for us, as
well as many in Sub Saharan Africa.
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| Some lessons from Bailout Week |
 | Some lessons from Bailout Week
While I still haven't seen the details of the now apparently agreed bailout as I write this [on Sunday afternoon], it is rather unlikely that the final version is going to be very satisfactory and that the following notes will be contradicted by the final result:
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| The shame of the Rift Valley Railways deal |
 | The shame of the Rift Valley Railways deal.
We have complained in these pages about the bad job the IFC did as a transactional advisor on the RVR deal that put Sheltam and other partners in charge of running the Kenya-Uganda Railway.
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| Countdown to $200, Oil at $115 |
Countdown to $200 oil- oil now at $115
The recent reduction in the global oil price has been greeted with a ridiculous giddiness and glee by many in the traditional media.
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| Transforming farming |
 | Transforming farming- video
The tragedy of punitive surpluses in one part of a country, where harvests rot or are sold below cost price, on the one hand, and starvation in other parts of the same country is not too uncommon across Eastern Africa and the Sahel.
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| No tears for Kimunya |
 | No tears for Kimunya
It is by now accepted that the former Minister for Finance Amos Kimunya was ambushed, coshed and pushed aside in a cynical power play. Still, those weeping for the Kipipiri MP make for a lonely huddle. Odd isn't it?
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| Governance yields growth |
 | Good governance delivers growth
What is more important for the growth of an economy? Governance structures, the oft heralded democratic wave, or a dynamic private sector?
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 | Why can't we be like India?
Not too long ago, Stephen Wanyama said to one of the editors that education spending in Kenya was too high a priority item.
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Food bash in Nairobi
The President today told a Food and Agricultural Organisation at the United Nations, Nairobi, that an urgent solution had to be found for the global food crisis. Capital FM reports that the president cited under-utilisation of water sources for irrigation as a reason for sub-optimal food output.
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Inflation bites hard
Kenya's poverty reduction efforts are coming under increased strain as more and more Kenyans find themselves accosted by the most extreme inflation, certainly levels only previously experienced in the austerity of the early 1990s.
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Give us free
One of the less heralded but perhaps more important and enduring divisions at this election is along the lines of wealth, not in terms of who owns what but more with regard to general attitudes to wealth.
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Poverty and the millionaires of Samburu
The $7 million compensation towards injuries caused by live ammunition left by the British Armed Forces, did not stop 228 Samburu herders from heading right back into poverty.
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| Rice crispies and western wastes |
Rice Crispies and Western wastes
What decisions we make with regard to the food crisis in the next year or two, in a reality already beset with rocketing fuel prices, a global credit freeze and the peculiarities of our internal politics may very well define the destiny of this country we call ours.
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| Oil's sticky end |
Oil's sticky end
Oil futures are reaching ever upward, drawing closer
and closer to the price range that will have catastrophic and lasting effects
on the growth and development of our very oil
dependent economy.
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