Kenya’s Economic Growth is ARTIFICIAL via COOKED NUMBERS

KENYA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH COOKED FIGURES:
In the run up to the 2013 general elections, the Jubilee Coalition promised to create 1 million jobs per year. Over the past three years, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicate that there has been a steady growth in employment that led to the creation of 843,600 jobs in the year 2015.

Though I can’t confirm the veracity of the figures so far released, they raise more questions than answers they seek to provide. First, can the economic mandarins at KNBS highlight the specific sectors that absorbed the work force and if possible give a breakdown of how many were employed in each sector?

Secondly, how does one explain this absorption capacity when on a daily basis we are treated to news of businesses closing down, staff rationalization programmes, retrenchment etc

Thirdly, with this kind of employment, then translates into an increase in wages and business income. Meaning- the taxman’s collection should be on the upward trend but in the same year that the economy “grew,” KRA registered a massive ksh 47.6 billion revenue shortfall in 6 months signalling a not so healthy economy.

Lumped up figures couched in economic language can be very deceptive. If these jobs were to be created, then the real impact on our economy should have been felt. For now, let us be consumers of cooked figures coated in a nice language.