Laptops critics should drop hardline stance

In the countdown to 2013 General Election, the flag bearers of the Jubilee alliance Hon Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto made a raft of pledges. If elected into office, the duo promised to walk the talk.

So far, a number of pledges have been rolled out and they include free maternal health care, setting up of One-Shop-Huduma Centres, resettlement of internally displaced persons, allocation of land and issuance of the thousands of title deeds to poor landless Kenyans, the launch of one-million-acres irrigation project and the construction of Standard Gauge Railway.

Though the pledge stood out as Jubilee’s signature pre-election campaign promise, it is yet to be rolled out two years down the line.

For those who have followed the political intrigues surrounding this issue, I hope many would agree with me that one of main reasons that have caused the continued delay is the stiff opposition.

CORD has for instance at some point accused the Government of having its priorities upside down simply because it wanted to roll out the e-learning programme in school.

According to the Opposition, giving teachers a pay rise and hiring of more teachers should be given a priority.

But going by the recent media report, it appears the President is increasingly becoming impatient with the delay to roll out the project. It is said he has since constituted a multi-agency committee to consider various proposals on how address the matter once and for all.
One of the proposal is to abandon the laptops project and instead distribute tablets to the pupils.

I hope the opposition will drop its hard line stance and support Jubilee efforts in this endeavour.