Things Uhuru should do in next four years to secure his legacy

President Uhuru Kenyatta has shown positive signs of asserting himself and tackling the gut issues holding back the country than in his first term. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The President and his team must face up to the fact that we are accumulating debt.
  • The President ought to evaluate Cabinet performance and cull where necessary.
  • Giving more people the opportunity to move forward is fundamental in reducing inequalities.

More verbiage and attention is being given to 2022 and referendum talk than reviewing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first year of his second term and looking at the task ahead.

The President has shown positive signs of asserting himself and tackling the gut issues holding back the country than in his first term. How he and his team manage the rest of his term will have a decisive — possibly even pivotal — effect on the lives of all Kenyans.

HEALING

I recall emphasising the massive divisions in the country soon after the presidential poll re-run. It was painfully split along political and tribal lines and there was much arrogance on one side and bitterness and acrimony on the other.

The critics or sceptics of the ‘handshake’ question whether anything of substance was agreed or it was an act of symbolism. They are missing the point: Healing that divide is ongoing and the country is a much better place for it.

CONVICTIONS

One of the criticisms of President Kenyatta’s first term is, a lot of talk but not much walking of that talk. Scams were exploding like a veritable fireworks display but there was little to show that the culprits faced justice, with convictions.

This has certainly changed but it is too early to celebrate; it is work in progress.

PERFORMANCE

Coupled with this has been the appointment of serious and competent go-getters such as Mr Haji and Mr Kinoti. The President ought to methodically trawl through his Cabinet and other senior public service posts, evaluate their performance and probity and cull where necessary.

A word of caution though: Yes, political and gender considerations must play a part but, at the end of the day, the litmus test is whether the relevant people and potential appointees are truly up to it. The huge mess in the maize and energy sectors are examples.

FATIGUED

Another area that the President must be wary of is expending his and the country’s energies on side issues. We are fatigued by the endless electioneering of last year. We need to make up for lost time on the challenges we face.

Whilst there is validity in the argument that we should review and improve on our Constitution, is this really the right time? The country is coasting along at an average of 5.5 percent economic growth per annum — which is not good enough, bearing in mind that the population is growing by a million people per annum. It should exceed eight percent.

EVALUATING

This leads onto another point. Let us balance out our priorities. President Kenyatta’s first term was dominated by expensive projects in the name of infrastructure-led development. Were they value for money? Were they not often at the expense of improving human capital in the form of better education and medical facilities?

The latter may be less glamorous than the SGR project, but the dividends for the country are massive. It is not a question of abandoning such projects, but evaluating and amending them where applicable and making sure they do not crowd out human resource-based projects.

DISPROPORTIONATE

Coupled with this is the huge disparity between rich and poor with a disproportionate amount of the wealth and resources going to the former. Giving more people the opportunity to move forward with their lives and respective livelihoods is a fundamental step towards reducing those inequalities.

President Kenyatta has shared with Kenyans the frustration many have about getting the national and county governments to deliver efficiently and effectively. The wastefulness, inefficiency and bureaucracy is, literally, soul-destroying and disgraceful. He needs to lead a series of initiatives to subject these entities to external efficiency and capacity audits so their respective operations can deliver more and waste less.

MANAGEABLE

Last but not the least, the President and his team must face up to the fact that we are accumulating debt, a portion of it poor value for money, at an unhealthy pace. Of course, we need to borrow for certain projects, but we need to do so prudently. Then, our debt will be more manageable than it is.

Mr Shaw is an economic and public policy analyst. [email protected].