Uhuru glossed over important issues

Although President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speech on Mashujaa Day had some inspiring anecdotes, he failed to tackle Kenya’s burning concerns and glossed over other important issues.

He specifically avoided to talk about tribalism and glossed over corruption. He was also silent on the welfare of teachers.

The current economic situation is worrying and quick fixes are needed. There are economic tools to tame the adverse economic slide but there are deeper issues such as corruption that are stagnating this nation. No nation has ever achieved greatness with the level of greed we have in Kenya.

Our tribal divisions and feelings are other great contributors. Indeed, if you dig deeper to the root cause of the 2007/2008 ethnic skirmishes after the disputed presidential poll, you’ll find it had so much to do with competition for access to State power and resources, much as it had underlying problems associated with land in Kenya.

Unless we tame the greed and the tribal mess we are in, we can only dream about greatness.

Unfortunately, much as President Kenyatta did not create or start this mess, he has an obligation to make things better if he hopes to build a worthy legacy.

We are already confronting economic problems of monstrous proportions. It will take a lot of courage and plenty of measures to get us out of the rut. Key among them is to stop wastage and engage aggressive tax revenue collection while cracking down on evasions and avoidance tricks.

With the ugliness of corruption and tribalism always lurking, it won’t be easy but it has to be done.

I wish the president well as he seeks to achieve something great for this nation.

Of course I have not forgotten the heroes and heroines who sacrificed so much for this nation.

What is of great concern is that so much has to be made right for this nation to tick.