Uhuru Kenyatta: His legacy, Big Four Agenda and delivery track record

President Uhuru Kenyatta. | PSCU

NAIROBI, Kenya - In 2013 Uhuru Kenyatta ascended into power together with his deputy William Ruto after a highly contested presidential election where he garnered 50.3 percent of the votes cast.

Kenya's constitution under Article 43 of 2010 covers economic and social rights. It confers every citizen's rights to the “highest attainable standard” of health and access to reasonable standards of housing and sanitation. It also calls for access to adequate food of “acceptable” quality, clean and safe water, social security, and education.

Garowe Online –Nairobi-based Correspondent takes a look at the legacy of the 4th president of Kenya as his term comes to an end today following the swearing-in of Dr. William Ruto as the 5th president.

In 2017 Kenyatta launched the Big Four Agenda –an economic pillar that seeks to transform the country’s economy and help Kenya realize Vision 2030.

Big Four Agenda was based on four pillars namely Food Security, Affordable Housing, Universal Health Care and Manufacturing, and Job Creation. Kenyatta aimed at accelerating economic growth and transforming lives.

Kenyatta’s grand plan of transforming the country’s economy after a decade in power can be summarized into a bag of both hits and misses.
It’s no doubt that President Kenyatta can be accredited with having improved the country’s infrastructural development projects.

From the first standard gauge railway line in the East Africa region that connects the coastal city of Mombasa to the economic and capital city-Nairobi to the newly launched Nairobi Expressway.

This better road infrastructure has enhanced the country’s competitiveness within the EAC region hence it has made it easy for goods and services to move around the country as well as beyond Kenya’s borders.

Food security Pillar

Kenyatta’s tenure also witnesses poor economic policies that affected the agricultural sector that has over the years relied heavily on rain.

Despite the huge potential of agricultural mechanization that ensures better and more reliable food production. Kenyatta’s administration didn’t take into consideration of mechanization of the agricultural sector resulting in food shortage.

However, his government introduced and revamped the allocation of insurance coverage to farmers, commissioned national food reserves, commissioned grain driers, and opening of agro-processing incubation and research centers.

Manufacturing Agenda

During the budget reading for the financial year, 2022-2023 the National Treasury allocated 1.1 billion.

The funds were mostly used to revive the industrial sector and creation of industrial zones ranging from the textile, leather, agro-processing, and construction sub-sectors which were mainly outside the capital city with poor road infrastructure.

Due to a lack of adequate energy to propel the manufacturing agenda.

During his tenure, the country’s electricity generation capacity stood at only 10,730 GWh in 2019, which was about 20 percent from the 2013 level of 8,943. This capacity was not enough to power the industrial growth agenda hence denying the country from realizing the industrialization dream of being a middle-income economy.

Kenya’s Public debt weighing scale

Kenyatta took office in 2013 when the country’s debt was at $17.95 billion of which 45 percent was externally sourced. A decade later the public debt stands at $ 67 billion, or 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product as per the Kenya National Bureaus of Statistic report of August 2022.

This ballooning public debt has put a lot of pressure on the exchequer. Currently as per the 2022-2023, financial year, the country is spending 53.8 percent of every shilling collected on servicing debt requirements.

Fight on Corruption

While taking the oath of office in 2013 Kenyatta promised to tackle corruption heads which earned him confidence among Kenyans.
But while leaving office Kenya still ranks among the worst corrupt countries in the world.

Most Kenyans see the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as a toothless dog without teeth to bite.

It was during his tenure that most state agencies become partisans and his anti-graft war was seen as a theatrical show targeting political competitors.

Kenyans were astonished to learn that the Kenyatta family was among those accused in a global syndicate dubbed the Pandora Papers.
The investigative information appeared to implicate the president’s family in the stashing of fortunes in offshore tax havens.

The Pandora Paper however did not hint at financial impropriety; the local anti-corruption agencies have not fully investigated these allegations against the outgoing head of state.

Kenyans now will be watching closely to what kind of legacy the newly sworn-in president Dr. William Ruto will leave behind once his tenure comes to an end.

The incoming president has promised to revamp the economy, reduce the cost of living, create jobs for the youth, and boost regional integration.

GAROWE ONLINE