Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government Dr Fred Matiang’i has highlighted his top achievements for the 10 years he has served as a cabinet secretary.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 59th Madaraka Day at the Uhuru Gardens, Matiangi said that his biggest achievement has been in the security docket which he was assigned in July 2017.

“Strengthening the security of our country and ensuring that we create a level of confidence in our people. The threat of terrorism still exists but a lot has been done to reform the security sector to a point where we have enhanced capabilities and we are ready for any security challenges. For me that is one of the best things that have happened,” Dr Matiang’i said.

Matiang’i says that for the ten years the Jubilee government has been in power, it has hired of 100,000 new police officers, moving the ratio of police officers to Kenyans from 1:900 to 1:600.

He says that the police force has at least 26,000 new vehicles serving the population.

Digital data sets

Dr Matiang’i also took pride in the creation of digital data sets, which he says has improved the registration of persons.

He also says that the issuance of passports has improved from the previous five to six days to one day currently, which is being done across the globe where the country has government representation.

“I am very proud when I meet Kenyan parents who tell me they do not have problems getting birth certificates, they do not have to wait for a day or two, Kenyans who can walk into Nyayo House and get a passport in a day,” he added.

Examination Cheating

The no-nonsense CS also says he is proud of his efforts in dismantling cartels in the education ministry, consequently reducing examination cheating significantly.

Matiangi was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology in December 2015 having previously been in an acting capacity as the Cabinet Secretary for lands. His appointment came at a time the education sector had seen massive leakages in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education national examinations.

Within his first days in office, Matiang’i sent home officials from the Kenya National Examination Council and restructured the security procedures surrounding the handling of the exam papers, which saw leakage of examination papers greatly reduced.

“I am very proud that we succeeded in driving reform in that (education) sector,” he says.

Analogue to digital broadcasting

The CS also takes pride of the anologue to digital migration for TV and radio broadcasting, which was achieved during his tenure as the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology.

You can see the explosion of the media industry in Kenya with over 200 radio stations and the interactions that Kenyans have, and the other day when we were struck by Covid-19, we were able to have messages across the board because of the broadband footprint,” Matiang’i said.

Overperformance

Matiang’i, who has also been serving as the Chief Cabinet Secretary, says that President Uhuru Kenyatta has overperformed on his promises since he took power in 2013.

“The President has more than kept his promise. He has overperformed. He has moved our country to a totally a new level. Our neighbours and everyone around is shocked about some of the things we are able to do as a country. It’s just that sometimes we as Kenyans we beat ourselves too much, but truth be told that the country is way ahead that if the President just kept his promise,” he added.