Embakasi East MP Paul Ongili, alias Babu Owino, has urged President William Ruto to rise to the occasion and address the nation's concerns.
Speaking on Thursday, Babu Owino claimed that Kenyans were getting hurt by some decisions the Kenya Kwanza government is making.
"I request the President to sit down since he is already in power and take charge of this nation. Let not the citizens suffer because we want to please other super countries," he said on K24.
An Infotrak survey released last month revealed that a majority of Kenyans at least 73 per cent are either in severe financial distress or struggling to make ends meet.
The survey conducted in all 47 counties and 8 regions of the country in December, further revealed that only 5 per cent of the sampled population are comfortable managing the economic situation.
Strategies adopted by Kenyans in coping with economic hardship include taking out loans, utilizing community resources, borrowing money from friends or family, seeking financial counselling, using credit cards, depending on rations and reducing the number of meals per day.
Also, Consumers have continued to grapple with increased food prices as inflation increased to 6.9 per cent in January.
This, after declining for two consecutive months in November and December, and easing below the statutory level to 7.3 per cent in July.
November recorded 6.8, which then decreased to 6.6 per cent in December.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) latest data, the price changes in food, energy and transport, which cover about 57 per cent of household budgets, majorly drove the January inflation levels.
Prices of cabbages, carrots, oranges and Irish potatoes increased by 10.0, 7.4, 3.1 and 1.7 per cent, respectively between December 2023 and January 2024.
However, prices of mangoes, tomatoes and sugar dropped by 3.8, 3.6 and 2.2 per cent, respectively.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' Index increased by 1.6 per cent between December 2023 and January 2024 mainly due to increases in prices of 200 kWh and 50 kWh of electricity by 11.4 per cent and 13.7 per cent, respectively.
This was mainly on the back of the increase in the price of foreign exchange rate fluctuation adjustment per kWh by 103.1 per cent.
“The price of a litre of kerosene however dropped by 2.4 per cent during the same period,” KNBS adds in part.