Kenya has woken up into a new dawn.
I was happy to see two young men coming into the leadership of this country. Their speeches were pragmatic and promised good things to come. This dawn will only turn into a brighter day if the new youthful leadership can address the following issues.
NEGATIVE ETHNICITY
The way the country is polarized into tribal enclaves is unprecedented. Uhuru and his deputy have to be proactive in immediately addressing this vice. If he follows his predecessor’s footsteps then this dawn can turn into a very grim day. As they announce their new Government, the face of Kenya has to be reflected. We do not want cases where entire Ministries are filled with people from one tribe. I do not know how he is going to do it but as we speak now, most top Government positions are filled by people from one region.
He has to do an audit of Government appointments and do drastic surgery where necessary. I know there is a cabal of supporters waiting in the wings to be given positions. Uhuru’s Government has to have a clean break from the past. People he appoints should be beyond reproach and youthful in order to inject new ideas. I hear talk of including old experienced hands. We do not want that, the only experience these “old hands” have is how to steal money from public coffers. Let them go home and eat the money they have been stealing from us, we don’t need them. I saw in some gutter press talking of people like Mwangi, Naikuni, Lumumba.etc, this is good enough for me.
THE CONSTITUTION
Enactment of the new constitution marked a new watershed in how the country is run. We have devolution and expansive bill of rights as some of the key changes in the constitution. While the new Deputy President directly opposed the new constitution, the new President only accepted it halfheartedly.
This has made people label them as supporters of status quo. They need to prove otherwise through implementing the new constitution to the letter. There is already outcry from some quarters that support for the new dispensation is already lukewarm from the new leadership.
CORRUPTION
When Kibaki took power; one of his promises was to eradicate corruption completely. This did not happen as some of the biggest scandals took place during his tenure. Some of these corruption networks are still in Government. The first thing Uhuru should do is send them scampering in different directions and hiding in the nearest hole they can find.
Uhuru is clean of corruption and deep in my heart I know he will do it. Get rid of all those Government officials who have been implicated in corrupt deals and are still in Government. Their identities are in public domain. JUST DO IT!!
LAPTOPS
I still insist Uhuru and his team drops that Laptop thing. There are more pressing matters in the education sector that laptops. Let us have free secondary and university education before we think of laptops for malnourished children.
We do not have enough Secondary Schools. That’s why we have so many children missing places in them. We do not have enough teachers and teaching equipments for secondary and primary schools. Most tertiary colleges have been turned into universities. OK, UMESIKIA HIYO?
FOOD SECURITY
This dawn will turn into brighter day for most Kenyans only if they will have food in their stomachs in a sustainable manner. Each year people die from hunger despite us having floods. So long as we are going to continue carrying begging bowls to the West the day gonna be very gloomy. Uhuru’s Government should put in place strategies of increasing agricultural production in the drier areas of the country through harvesting rain water.
Agricultural inputs should be made affordable through subsidies; farmers should have access to cheap credit; diffusion of new innovations should be strengthened through agricultural extension service and research; farmers should be assisted to market their produce at reasonable prices and also to add value to their produce in order to earn more.
SECURITY
Kenya is becoming one of the most insecure countries in Africa. Grenades exploding everywhere, crime increasing, rapes, MRC. The new leadership has to move very fast to stem this increasing insecurity if we are to enjoy a brighter day.
Nobody is happy to go through a day knowing that they can be killed anytime. Also tame road carnage. Each time I board a vehicle, I have to give my wife all the details of my banks account and my debtors
Dr.Jakenya (PhD) klist
jakihii@yahoo.com
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