Study: Jubilee yet to meet 2017 election pledges

Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is yet to implement most of its   promises it made in 2017, despite the Jubilee Party having a majority in both Houses of Parliament.

According to a survey released yesterday, the National Super Alliance (Nasa) also faces a big dilemma of how to implement its campaign promises on its manifesto.

These are findings of a report on the review of the 2017 political party manifestos and the impact on the legislative agenda launched by Mzalendo Trust watch. 

Mzalendo is a non-partisan parliamentary monitoring initiative whose mission is to ‘keep an eye on the Kenyan Parliament”.

Jubilee Party, the report cited, had generally failed in implementation of its promises, while Nasa on the other hand is reasonably limited in implementing its promises due to structural weakness owing to the coalition disintegration and the Hand shake.

According to the report, JP legislative agenda made no explicit references to the 2017 manifesto.

“Notwithstanding the ‘tyranny of numbers’, JP faced a momentous task in implementing many of the promises in its 2017 manifesto, whether it was on developmental outcomes or outright promotion of the constitutional principles of inclusion and equality, good governance and devolution,” the report.

It adds: “Whereas many other factors (such as vested interests and lack of political goodwill) can explain Jubilee’s  under performance, the party’s legislative agenda is being driven by the Executive’s priorities, as opposed to an exhaustive exploration of the ideas in the 2017 JP manifesto.”

Conversely, the President’s party only refers to the manifesto when the legislative agenda concerned developmental outcomes.

“Although the Jubilee administration created the position of a Cabinet Secretary without portfolio to ostensibly link the party manifesto with the government agenda, there has been very little motion thus far towards these ends,” the report.

 Government priorities 

Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju holds the position of Cabinet Secretary without portfolio. 

JP’s omission of the 2017 manifesto, the report says can partly be attributed to changes in government priorities and occasional individual members’ interests.

Upon forming government after the 2017 election, the report noted the JP’s leadership framed its priority areas as the ‘Big Four’ Agenda comprising: enhancing manufacturing, food security and nutrition, universal health coverage, and affordable housing as part of its transformational project.

Dubbed as the ‘specifics’ in the President’s transformation agenda by one of the JP MPs, the ‘Big Four’ crowded out the urgency of promoting the constitutional principles of inclusion and equality, good governance and devolution.“