Allow Uhuru to deliver on mandate Kenyans gave him

Kenya’s national executive is headed by President Uhuru Kenyatta who was democratically elected by Kenyans in March 2013. Kenya, therefore, has no vacuum and Kenyans have asked President Kenyatta to exercise their sovereign power.

In exercising this power, Mr Kenyatta is the President of all the 40 million Kenyans— those who elected him and those who voted for the Opposition. He is a symbol of national unity and represents us at international forums.

He is the country’s CEO who must be allowed to run the country. Any person who wants to see progress in the country has a patriotic duty to support the President and his government. Empty rhetoric and politicking only serves to divide a polarised nation dealing a blow to efforts to help Kenyans remain cohesive.

Whether in Kisumu, Kiambu, Garissa, Lamu, Samburu or Turkana, every Kenyan is seeking an opportunity to make their lives and those of their loved ones better. Poverty, unemployment, the high cost of living, disease and all other challenges do not only affect the Opposition. Even Jubilee supporters are going through the same challenges and the Kenyatta administration is working hard to ensure livelihoods are improved.

At the end of it all, we will judge the President, Jubilee governors and MPs by the development milestones they will have achieved by 2017. We can help the President filter the noise from the Opposition by focusing on development and growing the economy.

This week, the President launched a programme to build roads in partnership with the private sector. This will see the coverage of the tarmacked road network grow by more the 10,000 kilometres and raise the total cover to 24,000 kilometres.

The President also signed into law the Division of Revenue Bill which will see County Governments get Sh226 billion. This is Sh30 billion more than they had in the last financial year.

This is why we have devolution – so that we may have resources reaching wananchi. We, therefore, have a working President who is operating for the good of our good country. He understands his mandate, accepts his limitations, accepts the role of an official Opposition.

The President recently led regional leaders in the youth unemployment summit where he revealed that the Government had developed a national employment policy which now awaits Parliament’s approval.

In the spirit of inclusivity, the President has been meeting members from different regions of the country, including those who voted against Jubilee. This respect that the President has demonstrated must be reciprocated.

However, we find ourselves in a state where the Opposition is preparing to drive the country into another divisive campaign for a referendum. We are being driven to a period where we will be more focused on politics instead of working.

The Opposition should be thinking of how to win the next elections, if it can, rather than distract the President, the government and working Kenyans.

Jubilee leaders, in and out of Parliament, have a duty to stick with the President and support him in his endeavours. With resources amounting to billions of shillings made available by the government, Jubilee leaders must call a bluff on the Opposition and show naysayers how wananchi can benefit from a unified resolve.

Jubilee leaders must ensure that the millions of young people who are seeking opportunities take advantage of existing resource by encouraging them to sign up to Uwezo Fund.

Just as the national government is focusing on priority areas across the country, elected leaders should identify key focus areas for their constituents. They must ensure that county funds and the Constituency Development Funds are well utilized. Kenyans of goodwill should support the President so that we can all meet our individual and collective aspirations. We can play our part by giving the President peace of mind to focus on Project Kenya.