Just over a month ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta gave his second State of the Nation address to a special joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament.
A core message of that speech was that Kenya had turned a significant corner. For all our teething problems, political challenges and attacks from our enemies, we are firmly on track to fulfilling this nation’s potential.
When the President came into office two years ago, his government took on an ambitious, multi-pronged development programme intended to stimulate economic activity at home and reassert Kenya’s leadership abroad – not just in the East African region, but on the continent.
He took office with no delusions about the challenges Kenya would face in pursuing its dreams. He knew that holding together a divided nation and leading a complex process of constitutional transition would be trying. Transforming a nation demands endurance, courage and focus.
Two years of hard work and determination have already confounded armchair pessimists and doomsayers who saw Kenya as a nation in decline. By any measure, Kenya is on course to becoming one of Africa’s great success stories. Through the collaborative efforts of many diligent Kenyans in government, business and other sectors of our society, our rankings on a host of indices are on the rise.
As the fourth biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya’s upward trajectory is widely appreciated. It was gratifying, just a few months ago, to see Kenya highlighted in both the Bloomberg Global Survey and in Forbes magazine as one of the top economies to watch in coming years. The World Bank, the IMF and many of our global partners have separately commended Kenya’s policy choices. Against the odds, and despite a tiny blip, our economic growth rate is expected to be around 7 per cent this year. Analysts project that it will likely hover over that range the next year, and could edge higher still. This is remarkable, considering the setbacks that our country has had to endure, particularly from the recent spate of terrorism.
However, far too many Kenyans live on the margins and do not yet feel the effects of the turnaround. Too many regions of our country still labour under the burdens of poor infrastructure and unacceptably low levels of investment in social amenities such as health services, schools and facilities for skills development.
These are facts the Kenyatta administration acknowledges. President Kenyatta’s administration is working to ensure Kenya’s projected economic growth does not benefit a few, but rather improves the life of every Kenyan. The recent discoveries of oil, for example, provide us with amazing opportunities to lift the country to new heights of prosperity. Government is determined to see to it that these and other natural resources are exploited wisely and transparently.
In this context, one of President Kenyatta’s first actions in office was to establish a dedicated mining ministry to manage Kenya’s interests in its extractive resources. Royalties from mining have increased from Sh21 million in 2012 to over Sh1 billion this financial year. Within the framework of our devolved governance system, the government is raising the bar for the delivery of public services. The national government working together with county governments, Kenyans are beginning to taste the fruits of devolution. Over the past year, we have seen almost a million jobs created. Consider also that, in the same year, the total number of people connected to the electric grid grew by over 41 per cent. These are substantive steps in the right direction.
President Kenyatta wants, more than anything, to restore public confidence in the public sector. The unprecedented steps that he took nearly eight weeks ago in confronting head on the scourge of corruption in our public service will enable us climb to heights that yesterday we could only dream about.
At the core of a strong drive to reach all Kenyans with the services they require, the government established the Huduma Kenya Programme, the one-stop shop for provision of services ranging from registering a business name to replacing a national ID card. Huduma has already installed itself as one of the signature initiatives of President Kenyatta’s administration.
Looking ahead, I don’t think we need to overstate the fact that the world around us is not the one in which many of us grew up in. The pace of change seems quicker, and the pressure to adapt ever more intense. Globalisation, new technologies, environmental pressures and the rise of transnational terrorism are just some of the factors that will shape our path. Yet our journey must continue.
Let us work together. Let us debate each other without rancor, for we dare not sacrifice our progress at the altar of partisan politics. Now, more than ever, Kenya needs strong, principled leadership: leadership with the integrity, guts and willingness to commit itself to the common good.
The writer is Secretary of Communications and State House Spokesperson
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