Kenya has made strides but more work lies ahead

By Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka

We are pleased to have this opportunity, provided by history, to be part of the occasion commemorating 50 years of our nationhood. We wish all Kenyans a happy jubilee.

We also join the world in celebrating the life, struggles, and triumphs of Nelson Mandela, the embodiment of African and global struggles for freedom, equality, justice, and dignity.

We salute Dedan Kimathi, Mekatilili wa Menza, Makhan Singh, Jomo Kenyatta, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Ronald Ngala, Masinde Muliro, Daniel arap Moi, and many other gallant sons and daughters of our land and nation who charted the way for us.

We particularly acknowledge the roles of the founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and his successors, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki.

We pay tribute to the long-suffering Kenyans who have shown extraordinary resilience through years of hardship.

Our golden jubilee provides us with an opportunity to count our gains and rededicate ourselves to confronting the many challenges we still face.

At independence, we set lofty goals for ourselves: To eradicate poverty, ignorance, and disease. We overlooked bad governance as an enemy that we needed to confront.

We have a mixed record in our war against our declared enemies. As a nation, we have done well in the field of education and manpower development.

We have made progress in the economy, health, environmental protection, maintaining peace at great cost, and putting our nation on the road to prosperity and democracy.

For decades, we have been sub-Saharan Africa’s nerve centre in many ways.

But challenges persist. Our investment in education has not been matched with investment in skills relevant for the labour market.

Consequently, we have the irony of millions of educated young people with genuine degrees looking for jobs which they cannot find and thousands of employers looking for skilled workers they cannot get.

We have not adequately addressed social welfare programmes like access to affordable and quality healthcare, clean drinking water, electricity, and housing. The economic indicators also do not reflect well for our people.

The gap between the rich and the poor has remained since independence and is widening. Equitable sharing of the nation’s wealth remains wanting.

Then there is the failure to punish and stem the tide of impunity in our country. Many historical injustices remain unaddressed in Kenya.

On the surface, it may look as if it is safer not to address these. The truth is that these issues are holding us back and alienating some Kenyans from their own country.

On 27 August, 2010, we opened a new era for our country by promulgating a new democratic Constitution.

We are, however, concerned about some of the actions of the government that indicate the promulgation of the Constitution was not the end but the beginning of a battle on a new front.

Kenyans chose to invest in local solutions for local problems and to facilitate local ownership of infrastructural improvements by way of devolution.

The disagreement on the sharing of resources between the national and county levels of government symbolises the tension between the old order and the new.

Tribalism, the curse that has kept us down, appears to be getting a tighter grip on our country. Kenyans appear to be getting divided with every passing year and election.

We must all transcend tribal stereotypes. We must transcend the mindset of “tyranny of numbers” and embrace diversity.

By attempting to muzzle and intimidate the media, the government is encroaching on some of the most basic of human rights.

We are concerned at the lack of respect for separation of powers. We are seeing a flagrant disregard of and disrespect for this doctrine by both the Executive and the Legislature.

For our golden jubilee to have meaning, these and other aberrations must be addressed. For now, though, let us celebrate. But tomorrow, let us face the realities of what we must do to ensure true progress for our nation.

Mr Odinga is a former Prime Minister and Mr Musyoka a former Vice-President of the Republic of Kenya