Kenya will be a much better place with Raila's 'Third Liberation' ideas

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta attended the National Delegates Conference (NDC) at the Moi Sports Centre-Kasarani in Nairobi, Kenya on February 26, 2022. [Reuters, Monicah Mwangi]

Presidential candidate Raila Odinga often reminds Kenyans that our founding fathers fought for independence with two main objectives; to remove the colonisers and for Kenyans to rule themselves and second, to end poverty, disease and ignorance. Well, we certainly got rid of the British but have failed on the second objective. Raila led the movement for our Second Liberation and paid a heavy price. With a lot of sacrifices, we achieved our Second Liberation and ushered in a new constitution in 2010. But we did not remove poverty, disease and ignorance.

Now Raila speaks of the “Third Liberation” which is the “Economic Revolution”. Kenya has achieved enormous economic development since 2002. Kenya is not the country we were two decades ago. However, our economic development has produced very lopsided results. We have large modern infrastructure projects and good GDP growth but the lives of average Kenyans are getting worse. This growth is not being felt in the poor or middle class homestead. The cost of living keeps on going up and meals are being rationed in most homes. People are not “feeling” the so-called development. For the growth to be felt at the ground level, the government would have to provide the four key social components; education, healthcare, housing and either a job or social protection against extreme poverty. This is the creation of a welfare state.

Does a welfare state work? How does it work? Is Raila taking us in the right direction? Many rich countries have become welfare states with mixed results. There is a constant complaint in the US and England that some people take advantage of the welfare state, refuse to work and are 'carried' by the taxes of the hard working citizens. There is some truth in this, but the welfare state has also lifted millions out of poverty through free education and assisted through difficult times until they recovered.

What has happened to free education? Education is supposed to be  the great equaliser. Kibaki’s free education is not there on the ground and most people depend on bursaries to keep their kids in school. In Mombasa, 41 per cent of children who qualified to join high school in 2021 are still at home because they cannot afford fees. Raila’s promise of truly free education would be a great step in the right direction. It is cheaper to educate than deal with the social problems of uneducated youth.

Raila has pledged either a job or a small stipend of Sh6,000 to unemployed youth. People should not starve while they are looking for a job. Kenya needs to follow the example of China and the Asian Tigers and become a manufacturing and exporting country. We need to set up Special Economic Zones. It is only through such projects that we will create many jobs.

Raila promises free universal healthcare which he calls “Babacare”. This goes beyond the current NHIF programme. Is it possible and affordable? Poorer countries like Cuba and Costa Rica have it and so we also can.

These are ambitious goals. We must fulfill the dreams of our forefathers and satisfy the desperate needs of our people. It won't be cheap and it means diverting more resources to social services. Sacrifices would have to be made and extravagant programmes have to be cut to pay for these new ideas. If we can achieve half of these goals, Kenya would be a better place.