JOBS, TRADE, AND MANUFACTURING IN THE COUNTY

Overview of Kenya's Workforce

Majority of Kenya’s workforce is made up of people who are either employed in macro-corporations or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While this historically made up more than 70% of Kenya’s workforce, it has proven unsustainable in the long run with rising unemployment rates, particularly for youth, women, and special interest groups.

Under our KUCA government, classification of workgroups will be implemented to ensure that all possible vacancies in employment in both public and private institutions are registered with the government through the Ministry of Labor. All workers in Kenya will be registered with a government-recognized trade union and issued with a worker’s union number for ease of tracking employment records and career progression.

Formalizing Informal Employment

KUCA will seek to formalize the previously informal employment sector through registration and appropriate taxation of the Jua Kali industry. This includes artisans, boda boda operators, salonists and stylists, hawkers, general traders, and other persons employed as casual and day laborers within Kenya.

Expanding the tax base is key to the development approach to the economy. Large regions remain untaxed and undocumented. Under our government, there will be no section of the economy that goes scot-free. We will use the extra money from this thorough taxation to service the nation’s heavy debt load. There may also be an opportunity to provide social protection for selected groups to be determined at the State’s discretion.

Fiscal Policy Enactment

Lack of fiscal discipline has been the epitome of sound macro-economic management in Kenya. This is attributed to three challenges:

• Resource-driven budgets that enable the government to spend as much money as it can raise from taxes, non-tax revenues, and aid.
• Poor prioritization of government agendas leading to inadequate cost-benefit analyses of public expenditures.
• Poor budget transparency where it is almost impossible to ascertain the cost structure of government services.

KUCA’s fiscal policy will ensure long-term growth and poverty alleviation through efficient revenue mobilization and prudent expenditure composition. The fiscal policy instruments to be used include: public expenditure; taxation; public borrowing; and deficit financing (debt management).

KUCA MOVEMENT PLAN TO PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKET

A KUCA government will undertake a comprehensive public expenditure review to establish a cost benchmarking exercise for core government functions. This will improve productivity while instilling investor and development partner confidence. Secondly, a KUCA government will undertake:

• ‘Value for money’ audits.
• Impact evaluations to gauge cost-effectiveness and outcomes.

The information generated will ensure sound management of public finances.

KEY FISCAL INTERVENTIONS BY KUCA MOVEMENT

• Bring all off-budget government revenues and expenditures on-budget and prepare a comprehensive budget – the general budget and the government-funded budget.
• Complete the move from one to two budgetary levels in a manner consistent with devolution regulations.
• Discipline the budgetary process and synchronize budget and expenditure cycles through efficient time allocation.
• Improve performance contracting by using independent agencies to conduct rigorous performance evaluations of government programs on a random basis.