Simple must-dos if we’re to achieve Big Four plan

It seems from deeds and pronouncements that the Big Four agenda will be the lasting legacy of Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency.

The Big Four is a derivative of Vision 2030, the economic blueprint of Uhuru’s predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, whose retirement mirrors the US political system where retired presidents rarely criticise the sitting ones.

It is not clear how the four among the six key sectors in Vision 2030 were selected.

The four seem to reach our hearts and soul.

Health is about longevity, and without the reality of biologically systems, we all would want to live forever.

Every Kenyan has faced the reality of sickness and eventual mortality.

That agenda thus strikes a chord with Kenyans across all economic spectrums.

Our frequent trips to India for medical treatment and the national outcry over cancer show our intimate relationship with health.

The existence of herbalists and witchdoctors despite modernity is another indicator of how seriously we took health even in the past.

Food security is even closer to us; we eat every day and food is life. Nothing is more demeaning than hunger.

By ensuring food security, the Government proves that it is in touch with reality. Never mind that since independence, we have remained under the mercy of nature and its cycles with rain, floods, drought, and hunger.

Agriculture, particularly food crops, are left to subsistence farmers. We have no maize or potato plantations like tea or pineapples.

Food crops are rarely grown in greenhouses like flowers. The third agenda is manufacturing. We use imported products every day, which if made locally in the right quality and price, would create many jobs.

From what we use at home to the workplace, there is something we can manufacture and create jobs.

This demands cheap power, more efficient regulation and convincing Kenyans that our products can be as good as imported ones. Remember we even import names like Ken, Kate, Jackson or Wilkister.

Manufactured products constitute the biggest drain on our foreign exchange, which comes from activities such as agriculture.

We need experts in science and technology to jumpstart manufacturing.

We need material scientists, metallurgists, industrial engineers, and other experts.

More importantly, we need innovators who will design unique products and service delivery systems that are globally competitive.

Examples include Toyota cars, Apple phones, Facebook or software like Windows that dominate computer operating systems. This sector is brain and capital intensive but rewards and positive spillovers are immense.

Free market

It’s the least developed in Africa and would give us a head start particularly with the reality of the proposed Africa free trade area.

We could argue that manufacturing is the only agenda that is way displaced from our hearts and souls. The last agenda is housing, as basic as health and food. But this is the easiest agenda to achieve.

The infrastructure is there, we all live in houses, and it’s their improvement that matters. One easy way to increase the supply of houses is to reduce the cost.

A simple way is to improve security. We build perimeter walls, add razor wire, buy dogs and hire guards to make us feel secure.

All that cost money, which would better be used in building better or cheaper houses. The term permanent house in Kenya is a euphemism for a secure house.

The weather here does not require thick walls, one can even stay outside! Ensure my residence is secure and I will not need walls, gates, and dogs. I will use even mud for my walls. Is the police department involved in the Big Four?

In achieving the State’s plan, parsimony and synergy can make a big difference.

In health, we can loop in sports to ensure we are active and healthy. Seen the Jogging trails in Washington DC?

Seen the cyclists in Toronto? But the new housing estates have no space for jogging trails and sports facilities despite our love for the English Premier League.

Food security should loop in culture. Why must we eat ugali? I recall finding hawkers selling boiled snails in Ghana?

Who said everyone must grow maize? Manufacturing should look into popular culture which shapes our perception of quality and coolness. Even psychology can help shape our views on locally manufactured products. We can go on and on.

National goals

But achieving the Big Four is not a stand-alone project, it is more likely to succeed if more stakeholders are involved and their roles delineated.

The sectors and the ministries are interconnected.

Creating synergies would lower the costs and make it easier to achieve our national goals. Why did Japan combine international trade and industry into the industry?

Both Big Four and Vision 2030 are part of the country’s strategic plan to make life better for the majority of the citizens.

The legacy part of it is secondary to the ordinary citizen. It is another question if legacy can be created or it evolves.

-The writer is an associate professor