Fellow Citizens,
The end of one year and the beginning of another is the point where celebration meets hope.
Personally, I look back and I am full of thanksgiving for all the good things of 2013.
By
and large and beyond any parochial realms of self-interest, I consider
2013 a very special time indeed in the annals of Kenyan history.
As
we step into the threshold of 2014 I envisage a year of renewed hope;
one that demands that each of us summons courage and determination to
make it our year of great expectations.
Yes, the year 2013 has been eventful, sometimes overwhelming.
But to claim this was not anticipated would be pretentious.
When we set out on the journey to form Government, the President and I knew that re-inventing the wheel would be futile.
We
were also aware that the principles, procedures and programmes
successful governments run on are fairly standard imperatives whose
limits and elasticity can withstand only so much.
But
we were also abundantly aware that, without a character, identity and
brand to our tenure, we would do the people of Kenya and this great
nation of ours an inexcusable disservice.
For the last
eight months, the painstaking task of assembling the basics of what we
envisage to ultimately translate into the Jubilee legacy has been on
going.
The scaffolding is now all set. And the architecture of Kenya in her next 50 years has, in earnest, begun.
Much
as none of us alive today did anything whatsoever to deserve to be at
this place and at this juncture, it is incumbent upon each of us to
realise that destiny had already conspired to assign each of us roles as
founding instruments and pillars of Kenya’s second 50-year journey.
Personally, I consider this solemn challenge a honour of enormous proportions.
I am deeply thankful to be witness to and participant in this momentous space in our cosmos.
And I hope my fellow countrymen, too, are.
As a nation, we are on the cusp of glory, and it would be folly not to seize this moment and reinvigorate our hopes.
True,
many of us have witnessed years turn many times over and most likely
the magic of turning a new page at the turn of a new year has lost its
spark.
But it is not the motions of time that should dictate to our senses and sensibilities.
Rather, it is the power bequeathed us as human beings that should make the twists and turns in our lives count for something.
And,
just as we are empowered to create memories and not merely for memories
to create us, it is our onus to choose what kind of country and future
we want the generations that follow us to live in.
As a country, we have lost the true meaning of dreaming.
The
rhetoric of dreaming over the last 50 years has been an increasingly
sonorous chorus to which only a few paid real attention.
The problem is not the dreaming part; it is that we became long resigned to dreaming with our eyes tightly closed.
What
I want to assure you, fellow Kenyans, as we cross into 2014, is that
Jubilee will dare to dream, yes, but with eyes wide open.
As
a country, we cannot afford to keep walking into the same pitfalls,
snares and mazes that have denied us our rightful destiny and possible
primacy of place in the community of world nations.
We
cannot make the same mistakes we have made in the past and hope to
triumph over the adversities that have afflicted us serially, year in,
year out, since Independence.
So far, several potentially high-impact social transformational initiatives are underway across sectors.
The one million acre irrigation project is the initial step we have taken to ensure that ours will be a food secure nation.
Indeed, no society ever claimed its rightful station of honour while weighed down by hunger.
For
far too long, our power generation capacity has continued to undermine
our dream to take real steps towards industrialization.
To
make this important economic shift, action towards increasing our power
production from the current 1,600 MW to 5,000 by 2017 has already taken
promising first steps.
Further, to ensure that our
human capital is properly adjusted to our development policies and
programmes, our national curriculum has undergone thorough review and
funds have been set aside to equip, renovate or construct technical
colleges.
Each county will at least have a technical college.
To
ensure that the good plans and projects we intend to install find a
peaceful atmosphere across the country, the Government has taken
resolute steps to enhance security through an on-going process of
acquiring modern surveillance and deterrent equipment and technology.
Each police station countrywide will have a new vehicle.
Also
aware that our sense of dignity and compassion as a people remains
tightly woven and sensitive the fund for the elderly has been increased
and those meant to benefit from this will increase threefold from the
current 150,000 to 450,000.
Not to forget, women and
youth will immediately benefit from the Uwezo Fund and also enjoy the 30
per cent procurement opportunities in Government.
These measures and more have been secured in the last eight months.
Meanwhile, as we turn 50 as a nation, I am aware that, on its own, Kenya at 50 portends no magic.
In fact, the magic to make Kenya at 50 count resides deep in us. It is our duty to kindle that feeling – and act on it.
To
make real movement towards our desired destiny, however, will take
courage to call on, or even craft, a brand new Kenyan soul.
By a new soul I mean allowing a completely new indwelling that will excite new possibilities and options among us.
But
even with new possibilities, nothing ever prospered for any society
unless the upward thrust is powered by, and marinated in, a certain set
of irreplaceable ideals.
These ideals include a
positive work ethic, a renewed sense of true brotherhood and a steadfast
awareness of, and belief in, self.
A positive work
ethic unlocks the treasures of the entire set of endowments a country
possesses – creating value, building and generating prosperity.
A
healthy sense of brotherhood is the mainstay of cohesion of any nation
and the beacon of peace and harmonious co-existence, while an enduring
belief in self portends the miracle that ignites brand and character,
besides being the magnet that attracts honour.
As we cross over into 2014, we stand on a pedestal built over time by those who came before us.
To
them we are forever thankful but what we owe them is turning the
pedestal they have perched us on into a watchtower from which the
fortunes of our nation will be surveyed carefully and calibrated
circumspectly.
May God bless us all abundantly in 2014 and throughout Kenya’s next half-century.
William Ruto
Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya
