ACK Archbishop calls for adoption of proper policies on high cost of living

Uasin Gishu,

Wednesday, October 25, 2023,

KNA by Ekuwam Sylvester

As Kenyans grapple with the high cost of living across the country, the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Archbishop, Most Rev. Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, has called on the government through the policy makers, to consider the formulation and implementation of proper guidelines, that will help salvage citizens from the biting hard economic times.

He reiterated the need for cutting public expenditure and review of the taxation criteria.

The Archbishop, who was speaking during a courtesy call to the office of the Governor in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, Tuesday, said that the current high cost of living is caused by local factors which are as a result of the nature of policy within our country.

He added that there are also global factors which are not easy for us as a country to tackle because it involves everybody else, like the cost of fuel which is determined elsewhere, the war between Ukraine and Russia which destabilized the whole world in terms of food security and also the current Israel and Palestine war.

Dr. Ole Sapit who declared support for bipartisan talks as a way to stabilize the nation said that they needed more time to address the issue of high cost of living. He added that, it would have been a disaster if the bipartisan talks did not tackle the issue of high cost of living because it is already biting the people.

“We cannot do it at the streets, we can’t do it violently, it is only through a proscribed sit-down on a table to put issues across, discus them and then get amicable solutions. We should find solutions in a peaceful way that can be able to address issues affecting us,” he said.

 “In regard to matters of policy which relate to our own even as a church, we need to curb wastage in public expenditure so that it becomes one way of getting resources to manage and address the high cost of living,” added Dr. Ole Sapit.

He commended President William Ruto for his move to curb wastage of public resources by minimising outside travel by government officials.

In regard to the criteria, he said that the church feels that there are areas the government needs to look at, especially on taxation of the working population.

He explained that the middle class are the working class and they should not be overtaxed since they normally give hope to the lower class by hiring them as casual labourers.

“How the economy normally works is that we need a middle class that is able to employ many casual labourers who in turn will have the economic power to purchase things in the supermarket and if that chain is cut or if the middle class is incapacitated that they are not able to give work that the casuals can be able to benefit from, they will not be able to go to the supermarket, which then stops production and hence slowing down the whole economy,” he explained.

The Archbishop further mentioned that there is a need for the government to ensure the cost of doing business in the country is not too expensive as compared to the neighbouring countries in order to keep and attract more investors and create jobs for the people.

“Investors also would need to compare with us, whether the cost of doing business is level to the cost of doing business in neighbouring countries like Uganda, Tanzania and others. If they find the cost of doing business is favourable in Uganda, they will move their investment there, and what will happen then, they will not create jobs for us, they will create jobs for another country,” noted Dr. Ole Sapit.

Courtesy; KNA