State House spokesperson Kanze Dena has addressed the rising cost of living in the country which has seen the prices of essential commodities shoot through the roof.
Speaking during an interview on Tuesday 15, 2022, Ms Dena explained that the increased cost of living is not only affecting Kenyans but the world as a whole.
She pointed out the rising food prices in the country are being affected by external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis and global inflation.
Dena further stated that the food crisis could be solved if Kenyans moved away from over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture to irrigated farming in most parts of the country that are highly affected by drought.
“The rising cost of living is not exclusive to Kenya, it is a global phenomenon fueled by numerous external factors among them the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war which has led to a rise in the global price of petroleum, which is a key factor of production,” Dena stated.
Kenyans also questioned Dena on increasing public debt, during the interview on Radio Kaya. Dena responded that the government is being forced to borrow more to meet demands and expectations from members of the public.
“The growing public debt is largely driven by rising national demands starting with the growing population. Let’s take the devolved structure of government for instance which created 47 new governments complete with expanded leadership levels, all these are cost centres,” she stated.
“Most importantly, we’ve never failed as a country to honour our public debt obligations.”
Dena noted that the coastal region needs to reevaluate its methods of dealing with food shortages and adopt new farming techniques that will promote food security, in the region affected by acute food shortages.
“To resolve the perennial challenge of food shortage, especially during the dry seasons, it is a challenge upon us as the Coast region, led by our County Governments, to rethink our food production systems,” the State House Spokesperson remarked.
She further encouraged the coastal region to embrace the blue economy and invest in it as well as exploit the investment ventures that it is offering.
“There’s been a greater focus on blue economy programs which are the mainstay of the Coastal economy. Lamu Port, the revival of the fishing ports at Liwatoni and Shimoni are some of the ongoing projects in the region.
“It is up to us the Coast people to take advantage of the growing Government investments in blue economy to improve our wellbeing,” Dena stated.
