Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has assured investors and business owners of the Government’s full support saying they will clear the way of unnecessary hurdles frustrating them.
Speaking on Friday when he graced the Kenya Association of Manufacturers Humanitarian Initiative 2022 at Movenpick Hotel, Nairobi, the Deputy President said Government’s main intention is to ensure a smooth operating environment for all investors in the country.
He said the bureaucratic tendencies that had been normalised in the previous administrations would be a thing of the past in the Kenya Kwanza administration.
“The Ruto administration has the clarity of mind that the way to go is to support enterprises,” said the DP.
He said the administration is keen on letting the private sector to grow and create wealth without the frustrations normally associated with the Government.
“Our role as Government is to support the private sector to enhance and expedite investment. We want less and less Government in people’s lives,” he said.
The Deputy President said he will soon hold a meeting with senior Government officials to emphasize on the need to cut bureaucracy and red tape while dealing with Kenyans and investors.
He also challenged the Kenya Revenue Authority to avoid strong tactics in handling taxpayers urging the taxman to treat all of them with dignity.
“We want everybody to pay taxes but we want to collect taxes in a dignified manner,” he said.
The KAM’s Humanitarian Initiative is geared towards amassing support for Kenyans hit by the ongoing drought and the ensuing famine linked to it.
Through the Initiative, the members of the Association raised money to be handed to the Kenya Red Cross to support the ongoing mitigation programmes.
The manufacturers donated a total of KSh104,087,361 that will be spent on various programmes to cushion affected Kenyans from disastrous effects from the four-year dry spell.
The Deputy President said the Government was doing everything possible to ensure adequate response to the drought.
He said the Government was putting in place preventive measures so Kenyans do not rely much on food donations in the future.
“One of the ways of surmounting the food crisis is bringing more of the cultivable land under irrigation as envisioned in our manifesto.
We must no longer rely on rain-fed Agriculture amidst threats of climate change and other calamities like locust invasions. We have a clear strategy drawing from our manifesto on revolutionising and modernising agriculture,” said the DP.
Also present during the event were Cabinet Secretaries Hon. Moses Kuria (Trade, Investment and Industry) Hon. Rebecca Miano (East African Community, ASALs and Regional Development) and Hon Simon Chelugui (Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development).