OPINION: Why a grant strategy is not necessary for success in President Uhuru's agenda

On the editorial page of The Standard, January, 15, Prof Munene Macharia recommended the grant strategy as an indispensable tool for implementing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s big four agenda. 

One of the ideas implied is that when a country gains statehood or achieves certain milestones, it must deliberately refresh and declare how it will engage with other nations of the world in pursuing its national interests.

The last time Kenya’s foreign policy received a make-over was in 2014. One of its five key pillars is economic diplomacy which aims to realise a robust and sustainable economic transformation to secure Kenya’s social economic development and prosperity.

Perhaps, it would have been more helpful for Prof Macharia to demonstrate how this grant strategy would, for example, help the Government achieve food security for all Kenyans; or how it would help in achieving affordable housing when, in fact, land is a national dilemma we have refused to recognise and resolve.

The socio-economic problems within Kenya – poverty, ignorance, disease and hunger, corruption, socio-economic inequalities, marginalisation, and various forms of social discrimination - have little to do with how the country relates with other nations.

Rather, these problems underline the failures of the country’s governance institutions and an economic structure which enriches a minority and excludes and weakens the majority. The focus on big four agenda – manufacturing industry and provision of affordable housing, healthcare and food for all Kenyans – is meant to be the first major step in setting the masses free from socio-economic chains.

The aims of this agenda can be achieved within the existing policies, procedures and administrative framework, provided there is sufficient discipline appropriation of national resources. Those found guilty of misappropriation of funds should not only be surcharged but also prosecuted.