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Lawyer Willis Otieno has criticised government economic adviser David Ndii over his explanation of the rising demand for milk in Kenya, questioning why construction workers have been brought into the discussion.
Otieno was reacting to remarks attributed to Ndii, who dismissed claims of a milk shortage, saying demand had simply increased because more people were consuming the product.
Ndii pointed to affordable housing construction sites, arguing that construction companies provide milk to their workers in large quantities.
"We don’t have a milk shortage; the demand has simply gone up, meaning there are people consuming a lot of milk. I can tell you who they are. If you visit any of our Affordable Housing sites, you will find a lot of crates of milk. That is what construction companies provide to the workers," Ndii said.
However, Otieno questioned the explanation, arguing that it failed to address the underlying challenges affecting milk production and supply.
"Imagine being the government's chief economist and offering such intellectually bankrupt reasoning to explain a basic supply problem," Otieno stated.
He further argued that blaming construction workers for increased milk consumption was not a convincing explanation for the situation.
"When you cannot explain production failures, market distortions or policy incompetence, you start blaming people building houses for drinking milk," he added.
Using bread as an example, Otieno sarcastically questioned whether masons would also be blamed if the country experienced a bread shortage.
"At this rate, if bread disappears tomorrow, will you blame masons for eating too much flour?" he posed.
Otieno concluded by saying Kenya deserved economists who could provide meaningful explanations for economic challenges rather than what he described as excuses.
"Kenya deserves economists, not professional excuse manufacturers," he said.
https://x.com/otienowill/status/2117985301742141472?a=r2M267Tcgh5k6nnJm5g&s=19
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