Why June 1 has always been a special date to Jubilee government

President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to grace his last public holiday tomorrow, marking the end of the often politically laced national addresses that began with a similar event on June 1, 2013, barely three months after he was elected for his first term.

As the curtain comes down on his two terms, the President will get another opportunity to sign out with another address as the country celebrates the 59th Madaraka Day on Wednesday, June 1.

As the country’s fourth Commander-in-Chief, he will also get the last opportunity to inspect a gourd of honour and enjoy the military’s traditional ceremony of trooping the colours. 

The Day is set aside to celebrate the country’s attainment of self-rule on June 1, 1963 six months before it was declared independent from Britain on December 12 that year.

Madaraka Day is one of the three constitutionally recognized public holidays, the others being Mushajaa Day (October 20) and Jamhuri Day (December 12).

The June 1 celebrations are coming back to Nairobi seven years after they were taken to the counties together with Mashujaa Day following the President’s directive in 2015.

The President has normally used the holidays to rally Kenyans to support his government and as from 2013 he has also not shied away from making key pronouncements to guide the policy making in his administration.

He gave his first Madaraka speech on June 1 2013 while still constituting his Cabinet. He was yet to substantially fill the Interior Cabinet post as he was still waiting for Joseph Ole Lenku to be cleared by Parliament. The nominee would be vetted and approved only to be sacked a few months later after security deteriorated in the country.  

From that day’s speech for the country’s 50th Madaraka, his mind was focused on the perennial ills bedeviling the country, top of them corruption, which he took some good time to address, promising to take them head on. He leaves, however, with his administration largely stuck where he set it on the fight against graft, some quarters blaming his administration for intensifying it despite promising to deal with it.

“Corruption not only degrades the moral fabric of our society but it also causes immense suffering to our people. Most importantly, corruption compromises the ability of the government to provide effective and efficient services to its people and jeopardizes our nation’s future,” the President said.

He beseeched Kenyans to support his government’s battle against graft although the country would soon dive into the vice leaving the Head of State without a choice but sack a number of Cabinet Secretaries within his first year in office.

“I call upon all Kenyans to join hands in this fight by obeying the law at all times and practicing integrity in all your endeavours. This battle will be won only when we all do that which is morally right.  Let us also report corruption when we witness it and hold our leaders accountable in regard to the use of resources,” he said.

Then, Transparency International ranked Kenya the fourth corrupt country in East Africa below Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania with Rwanda being the least corrupt. As he leaves office, the country has since risen in the graft index to third outdoing Tanzania which is presently the second-least corrupt after Rwanda

In keeping with making key pronouncements during this day, the President used the 2019 Madaraka celebrations in Narok to announce the rolling out of new currency notes.

The declaration was welcomed far and wide, especially by those who had been pushing the government to adhere to the demands of the 2010 Constitution that required the Kenyan currency to bear other adorable concepts of the country rather than the faces of its former Presidents.

New notes

Although this was largely embraced nationally, the timing of the new notes was questioned by allies of Deputy President William Ruto who claimed it was another attempt to cut him to size after he fell out with his boss a year earlier. In March 2018, the President had shaken hands with his nemesis-turned-ally Raila Odinga ending hostilities after the hotly disputed 2017 presidential polls, fracturing his relationship with his deputy.

Despite their relationship heading south, the President used the Narok celebrations to reiterate his determination to the Handshake praising it for stabilising the country.

“We are also divided by the politics of grievance and resentment.  We must be bold enough and reclaim the unity we enjoyed at independence. That is why I initiated the “Building Bridges Initiative” – The Handshake. The Initiative continues to cultivate harmony and inspire hope among Kenyans. It ushered in an era of calm and co-operation where Kenyans embraced each other more,” he said.

In his penultimate Madaraka speech which he graced at Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu in 2021, the President was still praising the Handshake saying it had enabled the staging of the celebrations in the lake city. 

“Being in Kisumu today is significant and uplifting as we forge lasting bonds between the people of Kenya. This congregation is also a celebration of the ‘Handshake’; a new political normal that not only embraces competition, but also encourages reconciliation, and the healing of wounds – irregardless (sic) of how fierce the competition was,” he said during the occasion graced by Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye.

Since the Kisumu event, he has since publicly endorsed Raila to succeed him in this year’s elections ditching a promise he had made to his deputy to support him once his ten years were over. Ruto is forging ahead on his own to succeed his boss.  

This year’s Madaraka celebrations will be held at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi and will be attended by Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio.