President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to deliver his last Madaraka Day speech today at a time when the promises he made in 2013, are still campaign issues ahead of the August 9 General Election. 

Uhuru in 2013, which was his first Madaraka Day celebration as President, announced that his office had settled on seven key issues which were to be his top priority.

They included transport and logistics to help reduce cost of transport and make Kenya’s economy competitive, agricultural transformation and food security aimed at making food available to Kenyans at affordable prices, security to ensure the safety of Kenyans and facilitate investment, affordable, adequate and accessible water and energy for households and investors.

Others were quality and equitable education for all school-going children, free maternal health and free access to quality healthcare throughout the country; as well as affordable and accessible credit to youth, women and persons with disability.

That was two months after he took over power from his predecessor, President Mwai Kibaki.

He said: “Shortly – in the near term – we shall commence the journey of delivering on these pledges, transforming our economy and improving the living standards of our people. We shall achieve this by focusing on a few but high impact strategic areas that will reduce the cost of living, while at the same time unleashing the latent potential of our people and economy.

“In this regard, our most urgent tasks are to grow our economy, ensure food security, provide quality education and health services, create jobs for our young people; battle insecurity; and firmly crackdown on corruption and impunity.”

Despite his promises, presidential aspirants led by Deputy President William Ruto and Azimio-One Kenya leader Raila Odinga are promising to complete the legacy project on the one hand but on the other vow to dismantle some of them. 

In his speech, Uhuru also assured the nation of his efforts to end ethnic tensions and rivalry by providing leadership towards attainment of that objective.

“A united Kenya has tremendous potential for growth and development.  Indeed, Kenya is not a collection of 42 tribes who have to live together.  Kenya is one nation, assembled by divine providence and held together for the last 50 years by our common bond and belief in a brighter future for us and our children,” said Uhuru.

“As we indicated in our manifesto, the Jubilee Government believes in one Kenya; a Kenya where every citizen, wherever they live, will have the opportunity to succeed and prosper, free of discrimination.  I assure Kenyans that uniting our people is one of my most passionate goals for our country.  I dream of a Kenya where we will not only be proud of our diverse heritage and cultures, but also where we will unite around our common aspirations as Kenyans.”

On devolution, he promised to ensure its full realisation including the delivery of services and ensuring equity but also lead to the emergence of new centres of economic development.

He also promised to ensure the conclusion of the restructuring process of the Provincial Administration as required by the Constitution and to which he directed the redeployment of Provincial Commissioners and other provincial Heads of Department to other national duties.

“The National Government will continue to give support to the county governments through capacity building.  I pledge to promote the spirit of cooperation and consultation as provided for in the Constitution in order to enhance synergy and cooperation between the two levels of Government for the benefit of all Kenyans,” he said.

On the economy, the President promised to transform the structure of the economy so as to create sustainable employment opportunities for the young population.

“We are committed to sparking an industrial revolution that will ensure we are able to manufacture the necessary tools and equipment for economic activities as well as to carry out value addition of our raw materials and primary commodities,” he added.

With respect to food security he announced that he had set aside Sh17.8 billion towards irrigation projects.

On youth and women access credit for starting or expanding small businesses, he set aside Sh6 billion for distribution to all constituencies in the country as a Revolving Fund.

In education, he not only made provision for purchase of laptops for schools but also announced he had set aside resources for building the capacity of teachers, content development, deployment of computer labs in ten schools per constituency, and connection of power to schools identified for provision of laptops but which do not have power.

Ten years later,  the laptops have never been delivered although this year, a digital curriculum has started taking shape.