PHOTO | STEPHEN MUDIARI President Mwai Kibaki arrives for the Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on October 20th, 2012. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By MURITHI MUTIGA mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, October 20 2012 at 23:30
Posted Saturday, October 20 2012 at 23:30
IN SUMMARY
- The President was addressing the nation one last time on Mashujaa Day and he now has only one more public holiday to go before he bows out of office after a decade in power
- The decade has flown by since President Kibaki first came to power
- His mixed record is illuminated quite clearly in the archives of his October 20 addresses down the years
President Kibaki is not the sentimental type and the business-like tone of his speech on Saturday masked the fact he was observing a significant milestone.
The President was addressing the nation one last time on Mashujaa Day and he now has only one more public holiday to go before he bows out of office after a decade in power.
In some ways, the story of his time in office can be told through an examination of his October 20 messages to the nation over the last 10 years:
It has been a period of considerable economic expansion, political uncertainty and enormous security challenges, both internal and external.
President Kibaki touched on many of those issues in his address, lauding the security forces, trumpeting some achievements on social issues such as healthcare and education and promising a clean election.
Ten years ago in his first Kenyatta Day speech as president, the central theme of Mr Kibaki’s address was hope:
“Kenyans took a brave and heroic move to vote into office the National Rainbow Coalition,” he said. “Like a true reflection of the rainbow colours, Kenyans from all corners of the country made their views known. It was time for change and a time to open a new chapter. Two hundred and ninety five days later, we must look back at the distance we have travelled.”
Mr Kibaki went on to outline some of the changes that had been implemented on the economic front.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) was back as an active player in the grains market, purchasing five million bags of maize at Sh 1,010 up from a low of Sh 450 per bag.
The Kenya Co-operative Creameries, Kenya Farmers Association, and Agricultural Finance Corporation had been given a second wind.
He pointed to the recently published Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation as offering a glimpse of where the Narc government wanted to take the nation and, perhaps most significantly, spoke of the lowering of interest rates by banks which paved the way for increased private sector borrowing and drove economic expansion between 2003 and 2007.
Yet even at that early stage, there were signs of the political problems that would dog the Kibaki years.
The President had come to power on the back of a coalition of partners, none of which was more prominent than Raila Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party.
Mr Odinga felt he had been shortchanged in the new government. The position of Prime Minister he had been offered had not materialised and he was instead given the Roads ministry.
A clique of ministers from Mr Kibaki’s home region had emerged to dominate the presidency, raising protests over a lack of inclusion.
The President used his speech to call for unity. “As leaders, we must ask ourselves what contribution we are making to build our New Kenya. Do our words and deeds, unify our nation, or do they but plant a seed of hatred? Are you loyal to your individual cause or to the national good?”
By 2005, it was clear that the policy changes introduced after Narc came into office had borne fruit with economic growth having risen from zero to 4.3 per cent, a boom in the construction sector, rising agricultural production and the free primary education programme having opened the doors of schools to 1.3 million pupils in 2003 alone.
Yet the fruits of Mr Kibaki’s failure to manage the politics were already apparent. His cabinet was hopelessly divided.
A month after that year’s Kenyatta Day celebration a referendum on a new constitution was due.
It was clear even then that the President’s team was headed for defeat. But Mr Kibaki put on a brave face, asking voters to make their own minds up whether they preferred the proposed new law or the status quo:
“We are at a historic milestone and we should all be proud to be participating in this process. Therefore, it is important that we go through this referendum process peacefully and with dignity. Let us, as I have repeatedly stated, study and appreciate the content of the proposed new constitution and its contribution to our lives and the peace and development our country.”
Defeat promptly followed but it did not have the same disastrous consequences as the 2007 election debacle.
The next two years were followed by steady economic growth and a return on the investment that had been put into areas such as healthcare.
Child mortality fell at a rate that caught the attention of the World Health Organisation which marked Kenya out as a world leader in the area of improving the chances of newborns to make it out of childhood.
Again, in 2007, President Kibaki reaped the consequences of his casual approach to political management in contrast to his focus on economics.
His allies in 2002 united to form a formidable opposition coalition. The election process was fatally flawed and hundreds of thousands of lives were either scarred or lost.
A notable change came into the President’s speeches after that election. Inclusion became a major theme, as seen in this quote from October 20, 2008:
“In all my travels across the country, and in my meetings with fellow Kenyans from various communities and social backgrounds, I find that the foremost desire of our people is to live in a country where everyone is treated equally, irrespective of their backgrounds.
Kenyans yearn for an inclusive society which provides social and economic opportunities for all, and in which individuals and communities have the opportunity to live decent lives and earn decent livelihoods throughout the country.”
The focus of government shifted from the sole pursuit of economic progress to some backing for various actors who were working to create a new architecture for governance to replace the old order.
A new constitution was finally endorsed in a referendum on August 4, 2010. One of the changes was the renaming of Kenyatta Day to Mashujaa Day (Heroes Day).
As one would expect, the speech on October 20 that year dwelt on the new Constitution changes and what they would mean.
That issue did not feature much on Saturday, as the President focused more on the recent security challenges emanating from Somalia and within and the coming elections.
The decade has flown by since President Kibaki first came to power. His mixed record is illuminated quite clearly in the archives of his October 20 addresses down the years.
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