If former president Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto can set aside their differences and meet in Ichaweri, what’s stopping the rest of us from uniting to build a self-reliant nation?
As Kenyans prepare for the festive season, it’s an opportune moment for reflection on where we are as a country. The holiday season is a great time to recalibrate our priorities.
Here are key lessons to embrace as we step into the new year: One, stop waiting for aid and build from within. Recent jitters around the US cutting aid to Africa when President Donald Trump returns to the White House underscore our vulnerability.
In Africa, the aid often lands in the pockets of dictators who use it to enrich themselves at the expense of their people. Kenya’s health system depends heavily on foreign aid, with donors funding more than half of immunisations, TB and HIV programmes.
The US alone accounted for 62 per cent of health aid in 2017, alongside the Global Fund (18 per cent), the UK (five per cent), and Gavi (four per cent). If Trump cuts foreign aid in early 2025 as promised, our health programmes face a dire funding crisis.
Overdependence on foreign aid too easily results in a kind of learned helplessness. We need not be so helpless. Kenya is a rich country.
According to Mining CS Hassan Joho, relatively untapped sites like Mrima Hills sit on immense wealth amounting to trillions of shillings. Despite this, we continue to export raw materials instead of processing them into finished goods.
We should take a cue from Uganda where President Museveni insists that gold must leave as a final product. We should follow suit and ensure our resources generate maximum value for Kenyans. Kenya’s reliance on ideas imposed from outside undermines our true potential.
Take the recent example of vaccinating cattle against methane emissions at the behest of Bill Gates. Such interventions, while framed as altruistic, do little to solve our underlying challenges.
The M-Pesa revolution showed the world that Kenya can lead in innovation. Why can’t we replicate this success in agriculture, mining or renewable energy?
Two, let’s reclaim the sense of occasion. Kenya’s youth are its greatest resource. We must equip them for the future.
Unfortunately, many leaders fail to recognise the gravity of moments like graduation ceremonies, where they should inspire young minds about the realities of making an honest living in the 21st century.
Instead, these events become arenas for political mudslinging. For example, Sports CS Kipchumba Murkomen’s recent speech at the first joint graduation ceremony of Kericho County Vocational Training Centres devolved into political theatre.
This trivialised the occasions and demoralised our youth. It also goes to show how easily politics can turn into a graveyard for fertile minds if one is not careful.
We as leaders must learn the ‘sense of occasion’. I tried to model a good example in this direction when I spoke to Maasai Mara University’s class of 2024 during their graduation ceremony on Monday. I invite my fellow leaders to do the same.
Three, address corruption and bureaucratic barriers. Corruption remains a signifi cant roadblock to progress. Take the Department of Veterinary Services as an example: businesses seeking to introduce tick control products face exorbitant fees and delays. Such inefficiency stifles innovation and discourages investment.
We need streamlined, transparent processes that encourage local entrepreneurship and foreign investment without unnecessary red tape.
Four, shift from personality politics to issue-based leadership. The Gen Z protests were a wake-up call. The tone and focus of our political discourse must change in 2025.
During the festive season, Kenyans should challenge all of us in the political class to discuss solutions rather than engage in character attacks. It’s time we move from promises like ‘nimetenga’ and ‘tutafanya’ to actionable, measurable plans that improve the lives of ordinary Kenyans. We can do this!
As we gather with loved ones, let’s celebrate our achievements as a country this year: the resilience of small businesses, our world-class athletes, the KRA surpassing the Sh1 trillion mark in revenue collection, Narok county outpacing Nairobi in revenue gains for three consecutive quarters and the fact that consolidating 1,130 pay bills into a single government system has boosted efficiency.
These milestones prove
we can thrive on our own, we just need the discipline
to do so. Happy holidays!
