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Grand promises have failed, try delivering on basics

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TOM MSHINDI

By TOM MSHINDI
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From conversations with people from different backgrounds and professions, I gather that 2019 will not be missed. It was a tough and difficult year especially for business people, a very unpredictable one weather-wise and a very disappointing one politically because the ethnic fault lines that put Kenya permanently on a contentious plane deepened and little real movement was seen in the fight against corruption.

There were some bright spots — with Kenya’s athletes continuing to dominate global athletics circuits and peerless marathoner Eliud Kipchoge running a 42-kilometre race below two hours. Teacher Peter Tabichi was recognised and feted as the best in the world. But the bright spots were mainly celebrations of individual accomplishments, not achievements of a national effort.

We must celebrate Eliud Kipchoge’s incredible feat, but so did the world because it appreciated the sheer human grit it took to achieve it. It is not the same as celebrating the planting of a billion trees a year, which is what we must do if we are to restore Kenya’s forest cover to a decent 10 per cent within a decade. Or to restore the Mau, or reduce the spread of HIV, bring corruption down to manageable levels or force the country to live within its own means by borrowing only what it needs.

When the leadership of the country is criticised as not achieving much, this is what it is being judged against. Grand promises that have been made with no evidence that they will be achieved. The famous one that Kenyans will never tire of reminding the government is the one about stadiums that were to be built but, to date, none has been completed.

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As they see off 2019 and welcome 2020, Kenyans’ hope is that it will be a better year. Not dramatically different that the stadiums will miraculously come to life and a billion trees will be planted, but improved enough to see the economy recover, improved yields for farmers and better prices for their produce. This will be a tremendous boost.

An equally welcome development could be to leverage policy and make investments in areas that have proven potential to create employment. There has been much talk about the potential in the creative industry — film, theatre, music, etc — to employ hundreds of thousands of youth. Can 2020 be the year when real movement is seen in this sector?

It really needs to be and a decent start was made during the last Cabinet meeting when a number of initiatives were announced, including introduction of incentives that can restore Kenya’s reputation as a competitive location for big budget international movie productions.

Sports is a massive employer and it needs to be professionalised and be run by dedicated and qualified individuals. There is a lot of money and professional support available globally to develop our men and women’s soccer, athletics, rugby, hockey, cricket, etc. It needs to be taken a lot more seriously.

I have been arguing in this space that Kenya must introduce a legal framework to implement a Local Content Mechanism. We must have the policy and the legal instrument to enforce decisions that insist on a percentage of local content being included in all the products that are imported for sale here.

Many countries around the world insist on this to spur local manufacturing. One reason why only South Africa has implemented it on the continent is the resistance from the large industries that bring in stuff here. But governments exist to protect their people and do what is in the best interest of the country.

Kenya did not fully benefit from the decree that 40 per cent of all the materials used in the construction of the SGR be local because there was no enforcement mechanism.

Equally, the well-intended presidential declaration that a specific amount of local materials be used in construction of houses under the Big Four Agenda may not fully benefit local manufacturers because it is not legally enforceable.

Inevitably, as 2020 is closer to 2022 than 2019 was, politics in all its manifestations will hog media space and the minds of most people. But even in that maddening din, the President must find time to attend to matters that really make a difference.

Mshindi is the former editor-in-chief of NMG and is now consulting.    [email protected], @tmshindi

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