The holiday season is always a time to take stock of the past, present and to focus into the future.
Many people often make resolutions for the new year. These resolutions often take the form of individual pledges, but they can also hold true for nations.
As Kenya enters 2020, we can look back on 2019 as perhaps one of the most tumultuous but hopeful years. We had political foes embrace through the famous handshake in March.
It is one thing for President Uhuru Kenyatta to reach out to opposition leader Raila Odinga, find points of agreement with little practical application and go through a honeymoon period where they receive a lot of approvals.
It is another thing to maintain it in the face of all manner of opposition from within and outside their respective political parties.
The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which was only a theory last year, is now a reality. The BBI Report meets some of the greatest challenges afflicting Kenya as a nation.
One of the major challenges is corruption. Those who did not believe in President Kenyatta’s war on corruption in 2018 saw heads roll in the last 12 months.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Minister Henry Rotich were just two in a long list of high profile arrests this year. This demonstrated that no one is above the law.
On the economic front, international institutions like the World Bank are impressed with Kenya’s financial health. But not everything has been rosy in 2019.
Apart from being called the “Eliud Kipchoge Year”, 2019 could be called the year of consolidation.
2018 was a year of big ideas and declarations, but in 2019, we saw a year of action where the government tried to fulfil its pledges to the citizens.
The was on corruption was intensified and 2020 should be an exciting year for Kenyans.
To ensure it becomes a year of change, we have to do our part. We must not let undue negative influences hold us back, we must support the President as he strives to leave Kenya a better place when he retires in 2022. Many of the President’s political opponents have joined hands in uniting the country.
We must resolve to get involved in defining the country’s destiny. We have to make contributions to the BBI report and resolve to be less cynical about our politicians.
The war on corruption has revealed that many of our leaders are selfish. While some politicians are not corrupt, they are only thinking about 2022 and not 2020. There is also a group of politicians that always strives to do what is right. This group has set a new target which we expect all others to reach.
If we do our part and Kenya’s leadership continues on the right path, 2020 could be a great year.
