Compliance with health guidelines will ensure victory over pandemic

As the deadly coronavirus disease continues to rear its ugly head, leaving a trail of strife and devastation across the globe marked by uncountable deaths and socioeconomic disruptions, the need to adhere to the health experts’ guidelines cannot be gainsaid.

We in the private sector advocate high individual responsibility and fully back the administration of President Uhuru Kenyatta in forging greater regional and international collaboration to amplify the national emergency response mechanisms for containing Covid-19.

Similarly, the private sector is committed to playing its rightful and proactive role in achieving technological transfer particularly in the medical field, for instance, in manufacturing and telemedicine through public-private partnerships and in attracting foreign direct investments.

This will ensure that as a country we are able to manufacture medical equipment for both local consumption and the region as well as create jobs for our youth and enhance research.

At this juncture, I implore every citizen, as true patriots, to uphold all the health protocol guidelines outlined by the government to curb the spread of this pandemic.

Absolute compliance with these guidelines will not only protect us, our family, friends and customers but will also ensure sustainability of the current fragile economy.

Needless to say, Covid-19, tragic as it may be, serves as an eye-opener on the urgent need for a two-fold public health and economic policy to sustain businesses and employment post-Covid-19.

We all have individual responsibility to do what is right and make the best of a bad situation. Collectively, we will learn and overcome this pandemic.

To flatten the curve, we as Kenyans must comply with the curfew rules, observe social distancing, demonstrate high-level personal hygiene and engage only in essential movement.

But most importantly, we must inculcate in ourselves the right attitude critical to the fight against this pandemic. This is the surest way to beat the virus.

We the citizens must recognise and respect that our actions will either save or endanger lives and further that this will be determined by how we exercise our individual responsibility.

Indisputably, the disease is inflicting high and rising human costs and healthcare needs, which have direct implications on the economy.

That said, it is commendable that as the country grapples with this pandemic, as is the case with the rest of the world, there have been concerted inter-sectorial efforts to facilitate businesses and enhance continuity and sustainability.

It is no doubt that economic growth will stagnate during this period. Nonetheless, to ensure the economy does not nosedive fully, facilitating trade within and beyond Kenyan borders will assure a rise in demand and expenditure.

According to the latest International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook projections for 2020, all the five East African countries are predicted to register significant economic growth decline of up to one per cent.

Globally, the world economy is expected to record a downturn and a contraction rate of up to three per cent.

Last year, Kenya recorded a 5.6 per cent gross domestic product while IMF projects it will drop up to one per cent this year. But there is a reprieve for the 2021 forecast for Kenya’s economy, with an anticipated growth rate of up to 6.1 per cent.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decree for 100 per cent tax relief for workers earning a gross monthly income of up to Sh24,000, reduction of Pay As You Earn from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, reduction of resident income tax (corporation tax) from 30 per cent to 25 per cent and the reduction of the turnover tax rate from the current three per cent to one per cent for all small enterprises are key incentives to stimulate businesses and also cushion vulnerable Kenyans from the aftershocks of the pandemic.

More than 80 per cent of Kenya’s working population rely on the private sector, hence the need to exercise collective responsibility to overcome the new realities of our times and safeguard our future.

The author is the president of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry