Mr President: Yes, Kenya can be transformed in 10 years but...

He meant that Kenya will have achieved a significant stride in development and this built my hopes a bit, but there are many underlying issues that worry me so much. Some of the efforts the president is engaged in are some of the things like which yours truly has been championing for years. This includes the diaspora agenda.

With the high unemployment and underemployment rates in Kenya and which have been persistently growing over the years, I have always felt over time that multifaceted approaches that include getting opportunities for employment and business opportunities outside Kenya is one of the key solutions to solving this mess.

On this Mr. President William Ruto is spot on. The other is obviously engaging intensely with the diaspora to invest in Kenya. The diaspora Kenya is a very important component in solving Kenya problems and should never be left out. 

Another move which I fully support is the selling of the state owned enterprises as they have over the years been a drain to the exchequer and have been part of our country's governance problem. Some of the state parastatals have been used to reward political cronies often unfairly and some have caused a lot of market distortions due to their monopolistic nature and their own internal deficiencies that destroy the market place and include exploiting the public who consumes their goods or services.

Though our selling is partly or largely out of economic desperation, it needs to be done as soon as possible. The danger that alarms the opposition, activists and other people including myself is the awareness of the of risk which includes such as that of ending up with the kind of situation Russia found itself in during the era of President Boris Yeltsin, when well-connected people grabbed or bought state enterprises and assets at throw prices creating some powerful oligarchs that ended up distorting the economic strata in the country.

A story published by a Business Podcast Planet Money in 2022 after the British government made moves to hunt down wealthy Russian Roman Abramovich, the former owner of English Premier League club Chelsea Football Club, assets due to his perceived closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine. The story also followed similar moves by the European union sanctioning Abramovich and US members of congress calling on the country’s president to sanction him as well. The story under headline : How ‘shock therapy’ created Oligarchs and paved the path for Putin, is an eye opener for Kenya and can explain the discomfort on the push to privatize state enterprises in Kenya even though its necessary

If you also read the partly told and untold post-independence history of Kenya in regard to former colonial era private owned enterprises, state and related enterprises and related commercial items that include land transfers to private hands , you can tell why such fears are valid today. But selling or state divestiture is called for as they need to be sold or privatized to stabilize the country coffers and also to make many of them commercially independent or viable. 

It will take radical moves and focused energy and brain power to get Kenya out of the economic morass it finds itself in. We can’t get far as a country if our backwardness and economic pains which are evident continue for long. Therefore, is to urge the president to radically push for reforming Kenya once and for good to put it in the right trajectory.

However, the president faces huge risks and headwinds. One such is dealing with the big monstrosity called corruption. This is the biggest inhibitor and challenge that won’t be easy to deal with but must be dealt with. It is the single biggest contributor to our economic failures as a nation.

Yet still it embodies itself quite strongly in our politics. Our politics are heavily fueled by corruption, tribalism and other sectarian interests. Money is a key factor in our politics and easy if it comes through corruption avenues and chains and influences the poor and most often gullible public in a fundamental way. The same can be said of our tribal nature as a country as far as politics and some other facets of life are concerned.

So fighting corruption ends up seeing you on a tinderbox politically. However, without tackling corruption nothing much can be achieved economically. It thus means the president must also spearhead public education and campaigns against corruption quite aggressively. If the public sees the value of their money, even paying taxes will be seen as a moral obligation.

Why there has been so much resistance on taxes besides the economic pains the majority are going through, is that many are wary and suspicious that a lot of money will end up in wastage and corruptly ‘eaten’ as the history of Kenya has proven this over and over. 

May I therefore address the president as I sum up. ‘’Mr. President, your sentiments are correct and quite valid. Your sentiments are accepted. It is possible to transform Kenya in ten (10) years and make Kenya a global significant economic player. You have my full support and that of probably many who wish Kenya well.

The challenge is that to move Kenya an inch towards the noble goal, you have to be very different. You have to be radical, unwavering, strong, ready to deal with resistance and have to crackdown on wastage and corruption ruthlessly. That is how countries like Singapore, South Korea and China decisively managed to grow economically.

They have had strong and focused leadership and never entertained wastage and corruption in their intentional moves. You have to be the same and much stronger without destroying our democracy. I recently figured out that with our massive unemployment and underemployment problem amidst a growing population that if you could manage to get over 10,000,000 (10 million) adult Kenyans working or gainfully employed outside Kenya say in some of the countries with labour deficits and other needs or where there are such opportunities by say 2026, trust me Kenya will change for good.

This will be a great legacy to be remembered for. This is because these people will create a robust ecosystem to sustain the opportunities, growing global interaction and learnings and pulling others and still investing in Kenya heavily. These two things of fighting corruption and outside Kenya employment are doable and you are the one on the driver’s seat currently.  I really wish for our posterity to live in a better country than me and very many have so far. We have suffered enough and seen or witnessed too much of it. The time to end that suffering is now not later.’’

Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda is a Political, Economic and Social Analyst and Commentator