National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has said Kenya needs the light to win the war on corruption.
Speaking during Democratic Party NDC on Sunday, Muturi, who is gunning for President, termed corruption as darkness and only the DP’s symbol, lantern light, would help win against it.
“We cannot continue doing the same thing, administration after administration and expect a different result. If you remember when the Rainbow Coalition won the election in 2002, the euphoric people having decided to take charge of their destiny, were arresting policemen they witnessed taking bribes. You 70% can be the change we need if you rise up,” Muturi told the delegates at Bomas of Kenya.
He said statistics have shown the corrupt individuals are only upto to 30% of the population, and the remaining 70% are not and most of them detest it.
“We need to activate this 70% and they become the eyes, ears and the police force that will stop the corruption. We need to have a comprehensive strategy which will rope in government, the business community, the clergy, the media and the civil society to reach out to the people and make them be the champions of the anticorruption campaign,” he said.
He also said Kenya’s economy is in shambles, citing high unemployment is high, inflation, collapse of businesses and rising debt levels for the individual and the country.
“Foodstuffs have become more expensive. Basic kitchen ingredients like tomatoes have fallen into the luxury category for those living on less than a dollar a day. A packet of unga is no longer affordable and many families are reliant on the unga-pima,” Muturi, who is making hos first attempt at the top job said.
To fix the economy, Muturi said the country must reduce the cost of borrowing, have preferential taxes to young budding entrepreneurs, offer tax rebates and other tax incentives and tax breaks targeting the youth.
“The famous Fuliza run by Safaricom, which we have all utilised at one time or another, charges an interest rate of 1% per day, more than 350% a year, this simply put is exploitation, but desperate Kenyans have no choice.
“There are three ways to deal with this problem, the first is to bring legislation to outlaw these unjust and predatory rates, but this will just reduce the money that is being lent and will not solve the problem of Kenyans needing money,” he added.
The second step, he said, is for the government to stop borrowing money from the local money market and thirdly, revolutionise Kenya’s banking system “and become world leaders in the process of moving to 100% digital banking, where our mobile phones are our bank accounts”.
Muturi also said his administration would focus on healthcare, higher education and agriculture.
