Ruto's special address was a reflection of his years at Kenya's political theatre

President Ruto at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

This column finds itself in that awkward moment when it has to address a related subject for two consecutive weeks. On last week’s piece, this column argued that there is no road to first world in a country ruled by kleptocrats. Further, we opined that  President Ruto is among the highest duty bearers for the lost momentum in the implementation of vision 2030.

Therefore, when a dispatch come from statehouse that a special national address was due on Thursday evening, we were curious to hear the agenda. In some way, it was very difficult to drop this feeling that the address was intended to checkmate the new kid on the block, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna’s fumbling on key economic questions of the day on a national TV interview.

For avoidance of doubt, this column still holds the view that it is pointless to engage in a costly exercise to develop another economic blue print if we are not going to implement it.

The president unambiguously confirmed that we missed almost all the targets under vision 2030. For example, the Medium Term Plan IV indicates that the average growth rate between 2012 and 2022 was 4.8 per cent against the target to attain 10 per cent growth from 2012 and sustain it through to 2030.

Overbearing presidency

Targets on the social and political pillars were equally missed. Independent constitutional bodies still struggle to execute their mandate because they are either filled with loyalists or have been suppressed by an overbearing presidency.

Only days ago, the Cabinet was declared unconstitutional for failure to meet the constitutional gender requirements, similar to Parliament. Unlike electoral units, appointive positions are within the control of the president -why didn’t he comply with a simple arithmetical number in his appointments?

When the President invites the public to ask how their country missed this constitutional and developmental imperatives, it is very confusing.

As the head of the executive arm of government, the president swore to uphold this very constitutional standards, preside over public resources for the benefit of the citizens and render an account to the people -what else are publics supposed to do?

Each year, Kenyans share their aspirations during the annual planning and budgeting cycle that implement the long term plans and faithfully pay due taxes to the state. When those entrusted with the responsibility of deploying and oversighting prudent use of such resources steal them, and political power peddling shield them from accountability, what are citizens supposed to do?

For instance, the current administration has been legendary in whitewashing suspected thieves of public resources and rewarding them with senior elective and appointive positions in government, for as long as they sing the tune of the party. How then can the president lament and purport to wonder how South Korea, China, India and Vietnam pulled ahead of us in development?

On narrating the three moments of history that catapulted the Asian tigers into prosperity in the 1960s through the 1990s, the president created the impression that there were special moments that the country failed to exploit. The truth is that there were no general factors unique to these nations, what they had were visionary leaders who insubordinated their personal greed for the sake of their people and nation.

These leaders did not accumulate personal fortunes for either themselves nor their political allies. Instead, they build systems that served everyone equally, created enabling environments for free flow of capital, provided necessary guarantees to protect property rights, promoted innovation and enterprise through merit based reward systems.

Here, those in power boast of wanton personal wealth accumulation that cannot be associated with their legitimate known sources. Yet, instead of heading to jail, they get rewarded with more senior positions of power to protect and grow their loot. How can the nation not fail in its developmental journey if every public project is an opportunity to siphon billions from public coffers?

Unfortunately for the president, hours before the address comments by his former Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the National Treasury were trending on media that he overruns all public institutions personally. The former CS arguments that he declined invitations to cut deals is deeply troubling. This is because the National Treasury is not only a sacred institution in our constitutional order, but also the technical custodian of our public resources.

The National and County Treasuries are the only departments within the executive arm of government that are exclusively demanded by the Constitution. The rest of the ministries are established through executive order number one of an elected president or a governor in the case of counties. Further, the Constitution itself exclusively assigns specific responsibilities to the Treasury and to the CS in-charge of it for the national government, and the County Executive Committee Member for Finance, in the counties.

Insider information

Thus, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u’s comments cannot be taken as pedestrian. In the world of economics, it must be treated as insider information worth billions of dollars in the financial markets. This confirms, without a doubt, the technical committee lead by Prof. Anyang Nyong’o’s conclusions that the primary reason that Kenya has had a false start in all its previous developmental agendas is lack of sustained political support.

For example, the Jubilee administration abandoned the Vision 2030 in 2012 and downgraded broad target goals into the BIG Four in 2017. The successor UDA administration abandoned BIG Four for the hustler narrative, despite President Ruto having served for a full-term as Deputy President for Jubilee.

The president’s invitation for the nation to seek for tangible developmental outcomes and lived realities from our previous plans is quite appealing. However, while we ask for these questions should we be looking outside through the magnificent windows of statehouse or should we be asking this question facing a big mirror inside statehouse?

This column was birthed for and has dutifully advocated for simple and practical relations between public economic policy and lived realities at households and communities. Professor Nyong’o’s report did not call for the structure of broad-based consultation proposed by the president in crafting the beyond 2030 plan. This column still stands by last week’s proposition that all we need is to draw an implementation action plan out of the road map, retrace Vision 2030’s flagship projects and execute them with military precision.

I have had the privilege of not only living in China for three years, but also seeing the Beijing master plan for the city. Believe you me not, the city authorities know where every single tree or public toilet is. If they point it for you on the master plan, it exists in the exact location ‘kwa ground’.

When Chinese national and regional leaders converge in Beijing in Autumn for the Central Committee Plenums (CCP) to adopt a five-year plan, it is implemented to the last full stop within the approved timelines. Thereafter, the Lianghui (a joint event for the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) convene every Spring to review national budgets, laws and government work outcomes reports.

The only acceptable reports in a Lianghui from elected and other public officials is the extend to which they surpassed planned outcomes, not alibis of what was not done. So dear Mr. president, instead of wondering why we missed out, just place a call to your friend, Xi Jinping, for an invite to sit-in at the next CCP in Autum to learn about lived developmental plans.

Am sure Kenyans won’t mind just one more luxury trip if it can fix this first world thing for them!