Kenya on course to prosperity, let’s work on taking it to next level

Just over a month ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta gave his second State of the Nation address to a special joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament. 

A core message of that speech was that Kenya had turned a significant corner. For all our teething problems, political challenges and attacks from our enemies, we are firmly on track to fulfilling this nation’s potential.  

When the President came into office two years ago, his government took on an ambitious, multi-pronged development programme intended to stimulate economic activity and to reassert Kenya’s leadership abroad.

He took office with no delusions about the challenges Kenya would face in pursuing its dreams. He knew that holding together a divided nation and leading a complex process of constitutional transition would be trying. Transforming a nation demands endurance, courage and unwavering focus.

But two years of hard work and determination have already confounded armchair pessimists and doomsayers who saw Kenya as a nation in decline.  By any measure, Kenya is on course to becoming one of Africa’s great success stories. 

Through the collaborative efforts of many diligent Kenyans in government, business and other sectors of our society, our rankings on a host of indices are on the rise.  

As the fourth biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya’s upward trajectory is widely appreciated. It was gratifying, just a few months ago, to see Kenya highlighted in both the Bloomberg Global Survey and in Forbes magazine as one of the top economies to watch in the coming years. The World Bank, the IMF have separately commended Kenya’s policy choices.

Against the odds, and despite a tiny blip, our economic growth rate is expected to be around 7 per cent this year. Analysts project that it will likely hover over that range the next year, and could edge higher still. 

However, far too many Kenyans live on the margins and do not yet feel the effects of the turnaround. Too many regions of our country still labour under the burdens of poor infrastructure and unacceptably low levels of investment in social amenities such as hospitals, schools and facilities for skills development.  These are facts the Kenyatta administration acknowledges.

The government is working to ensure that Kenya’s projected economic growth does not benefit a few, but rather improves the life of every Kenyan.

MINERAL DISCOVERIES

The recent discoveries of oil, for example, provide us with amazing opportunities to lift the country to new heights of prosperity. In this context, one of President Kenyatta’s first actions in office  was to establish a dedicated mining ministry to manage Kenya’s interests and royalties from mining alone have increased from Sh21m in 2012 to over Sh1 billion this financial year.

Within the framework of our devolved governance system, the government is raising the bar for the delivery of public services. The national government working together with county governments, Kenyans are beginning to taste the fruits of devolution. Over the past year, we have seen almost a million new jobs created.  

President Kenyatta wants, more than anything, to restore public confidence in the public sector. The unprecedented steps that he took nearly eight weeks ago in confronting head on the scourge of corruption in our public service will enable us to climb to heights that yesterday we could only dream about.  

At the core of a strong drive to reach all Kenyans with the services they require, the government established the Huduma Kenya Programme, the one-stop shop for provision of services.

The world around us is not the one in which many of us grew up in. The pace of change seems ever quicker, and the pressure to adapt ever more intense.

Globalisation, new technologies, environmental pressures and terrorism are just some of the factors that will shape our path.  Yet our journey must continue.  Let us work together.  Let us debate each other without rancor, for we dare not sacrifice our progress at the altar of partisan politics.  

Now, more than ever, Kenya needs strong, principled leadership: leadership with the integrity, guts and willingness to commit itself to the common good. 

President Kenyatta has made a conscious commitment to be such a leader, and he expects no less from the people that he has appointed to positions of leadership in his government.  

Esipisu is Secretary of Communications and State House Spokesperson. [email protected] and on Twitter @MEsipisu