Big Four agenda is a farce that we can do without

President Uhuru Kenyatta outlined four pillars of development that would form the basis of his leadership during his final term. These pillars, which are being implemented under the aegis of the "Big Four agenda", are food security, affordable housing, manufacturing and universal healthcare.

I have noticed with a sad interest that at least, going by the prevailing realities in the country, no much progress has been registered in implementing them. I have struggled with one particular question: What led the president to identify these four specific fields and declare them so important for our country's economic development, going as far as pumping billions of shillings into them?

I thought the fight against corruption would also be turned into a big national agenda! I was wrong. The reason why I find it difficult to understand what economic philosophy informed Uhuru's choice of the four pillars, is that he has produced absolutely no writings to back his claim that they are important for Kenyans. President Jomo Kenyatta authored "Facing Mount Kenya", where he extolled African culture and its importance in economic development.

This is a pivotal work of literature that still graces our book shelves, although now mainly read by ageing scholars. President Mwai Kibaki played a role together with the late Tom Mboya in authoring Sessional Paper 10 of 1965.

President Daniel arap Moi wrote his Nyayo Philosophy, where he emphasised on districts as the focal point for development. Uhuru has authored not a single academic work explaining his development agenda.

The only writing I remember associated with him is the budget statement he read while serving as Finance Minister that was full of numerical errors. It is, therefore, difficult to decipher the philosophical foundations of his presidency.

Corruption is rampant and threatening to destroy the very foundations of the nation. Service delivery across all governmental agencies is wanting. The nation is being weighed down by debt. It is time we declared our Big Four agenda to be corruption, debt, tribalism and ineptitude, not the four pillars the government can hardly implement.