By Bahati Amaya, Nairobi

Many powerful nations are what they are because of political goodwill.

The US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia have attained high development levels courtesy of father figures who provided the goodwill to create wealth.

We don’t need the Government to give us handouts. Handout system is symptomatic of a decayed society.

Any government worth its salt should not give out fish but teach citizens how to look for the fish.

The Narc regime brought a dangerous era of free things mentality.

The crises choking the nation can be attributed to lack of political goodwill. Kenyans for example require the State to zero-rate duty on plumbing equipment to make it affordable.

Water harvesting equipment like pumps and generators are out of reach of the common man, hence the first step should be to deal with accessibility and affordability.

Create a policy on water harvesting and people will do the rest. On environmental conservation, the State should ensure policies on protecting water catchment areas are adhered to.

The Mau case would be a thing of the past if the law was upheld. Thanks to political patronage that made local people emulate the political class in encroaching on the forest land. Citizens are quick to copy their leaders’ actions.

Prof Wangari Maathai lacked the goodwill from the leadership to champion environmental conservation.

Improved performance by the civil service since the fall of Kanu is due to some measure of goodwill by the ruling elite. It is not as a result of hard work by the leaders.

Political interference instead of support has made Africa a poor continent.

Food scarcity is a crisis of our own making. Small scale farmers have yearned for soft credit without success. Extension services are no longer available to dairy farmers. When the farmers produce bumper harvest the produce is sold at a throw away price. The Government would rather pay a premium on imports. What an insult to farmers?

The two principals must provide leadership and goodwill to for foster development. Kenyans are willing to play their role. Goodwill is the missing ingredient.

Citizens have shown given the enabling environment they will confront national challenges.