Jubilee won’t accomplish the nation’s development, democratic revolution

Can the Jubilee administration accomplish the national democratic and developmental revolution Kenyans have been yearning for since independence? Very unlikely. But why not? Because this revolution must begin with a profound agricultural transformation, the type that saw milk prices go from Sh6 to Sh17 per pint within the first six months of the Narc regime. Or putting millions of children into primary school without much ado as Narc did. Or relying entirely on domestic resources to finance the budget without necessarily increasing the rate of taxation (and without incurring debt to finance recurrent expenditure). We could begin to see that under Narc, growth was beginning to feed into development. I do not see such transformative policies under Jubilee.  And the following is why.

Were you to be involved in the exercise of analysing the speeches and the content of public discussions of Jubilee leaders since they came to power, you would be surprised if 90 per cent of what they talk about is not about politics of succession: it is. Cornered by questions and criticisms regarding his conduct as the Deputy President, William Ruto’s defence is in the following words: “Please do not spoil my chances of succeeding Uhuru.” Uhuru has been obsessed with keeping his flock together not to ensure his government delivers now—he takes that for granted—but that he is there after 2017 as President. If he does not begin the revolution now, why should he be there after 2017?