Kenya will be a much better place with Raila's 'Third Liberation' ideas

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta attended the National Delegates Conference (NDC) at the Moi Sports Centre-Kasarani in Nairobi, Kenya on February 26, 2022. [Reuters, Monicah Mwangi]

Presidential candidate Raila Odinga often reminds Kenyans that our founding fathers fought for independence with two main objectives; to remove the colonisers and for Kenyans to rule themselves and second, to end poverty, disease and ignorance. Well, we certainly got rid of the British but have failed on the second objective. Raila led the movement for our Second Liberation and paid a heavy price. With a lot of sacrifices, we achieved our Second Liberation and ushered in a new constitution in 2010. But we did not remove poverty, disease and ignorance.

Now Raila speaks of the “Third Liberation” which is the “Economic Revolution”. Kenya has achieved enormous economic development since 2002. Kenya is not the country we were two decades ago. However, our economic development has produced very lopsided results. We have large modern infrastructure projects and good GDP growth but the lives of average Kenyans are getting worse. This growth is not being felt in the poor or middle class homestead. The cost of living keeps on going up and meals are being rationed in most homes. People are not “feeling” the so-called development. For the growth to be felt at the ground level, the government would have to provide the four key social components; education, healthcare, housing and either a job or social protection against extreme poverty. This is the creation of a welfare state.