President Uhuru: We chose life

The government chose life over the economy as regards the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, President Uhuru Kenyatta (pictured) has said.

Stringent measures imposed by the government e.g curfew, closure of business establishments, cessation of movement in Nairobi and Mombasa counties last year and partial lockdowns contributed largely to a dwindling economy and harsh economic effects like unemployment.

According to the president, when push came to shove, it was necessary to make a ‘bold decision’, a move that cost Kenya billions of shillings but preserved life.

“The logic here, for the last one year, was that you can always revive the economy, but you cannot revive a lost life,” he said in a national address on Friday.

his is the price we had to pay in 2020 for the bold decisions we made to contain this economic free fall. The opportunity cost of saving lives was the foregoing of Sh560 billion of GDP in order to preserve life. It was worth every cent,” he added.

Official data reveals that between April and July last year, 1.7 million Kenyans lost their jobs. For two successive quarters - the second and third - the economy, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), contracted by 5.5 and 1.1 per cent respectively.

However, going by President Uhuru’s speech on Friday, economic recovery this year may as well be a pipe dream, as he ordered the extension of the 10pm-4.00am curfew by another 60 days, and closure of bars and restaurants by 9pm.