What Kenya must do to attain the Vision 2030 growth goal
Posted Friday, August 15 2008 at 19:04
After launching Vision 2030, many Kenyans have started making it a reality through various initiatives and personal involvement. And analysts are either supporting or criticising the Government’s socio-economic development blueprint.
But what is encouraging is that it has generated interest among almost every Kenyan, and the nation is talking about or taking stock of the much-touted strategy.
But reading through the medium-term plan and the popular version of its policy paper, it is clear that realising the objectives will need the support of all the interested parties and the public in general.
However, Kenya has a negative history, grounded on the culture of impunity that must first be addressed to psyche the entire populace to work together along the slippery road to Vision 2030.
To achieve the vision, Kenya will need to expand its democratic space and guarantee legal fairness for all. Grand corruption must be punished as severely as petty corruption. There should also be a wage policy for a fair rewarding system that will narrow down the gaping income gap.
Historical injustices must be addressed, so must the land issue so that the landless are settled. People who gained from the past disorderly regimes must be willing to own up to their actions and surrender the loot.
Young people must be put in the central knob that will twist open the door of the engine running the vision’s vehicle. Without meaningful involvement of young people the vision is doomed to failure. For as it stands now, a large percentage of youths has been pushed to the periphery of development and condemned to the dustbin of despair and hopelessness.
The political leadership must begin to do what they preach. For instance, it annoys one to hear them condemn the mayhem in secondary schools when they have been the cause of negative modelling of the youth. Politicians must declare their wealth and stop using young people as a shield as they quench their political thirst.
In the past, they have fronted the youth to fight their battles, only to dump them at the table of sharing power and the benefits.
The recommendations of various probe committees instituted by the President and Parliament to address past and present injustices must be enacted. And the Ndung’u land report and the others must be made public to renew our faith in governance and the power of transparency.
We need motivation and inspiration to feel equal and harness our doubts and fears. Kenya is not growing economically as fast as is expected not because the people are lazy. It is the state of disorder that has demoralised them. Kenyans need a natural respect founded on the understanding that any of them is equal to and as important as the other.
OULU GPO, Nairobi.
