We cannot afford to let Vision 2030 be a mirage

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Chairperson Sarah Serem during a debate on the National Wage Bill held at KICC in Nairobi on March 10, 2014. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• I am sure, and I trust, it has not been abandoned and that the various efforts we see are aimed at the achievement of the same
• We now have the central government and 47 county governments, all with varying aspirations and objectives

By Dominic Wamugunda
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Last week, I had been requested by the principals of secondary schools from Murang’a County to talk to them about education in the context of Vision 2030. As I was preparing, I found myself asking the question “what became of Vision 2030”?

Towards the end of the reign of President Mwai Kibaki, there was no government programme that was talked about without the mention of this vision that emerged from the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) of 2003-2007. But in the last one year, we have not heard much of Mr Kibaki’s pet vision.

However, I am sure, and I trust, it has not been abandoned and that the various efforts we see are aimed at the achievement of the same.
I can understand that a lot has happened in recent times.

We now have the central government and 47 county governments, all with varying aspirations and objectives. Most of those chief executives in charge of the county governments are politicians or in a few cases serving a political agenda. They all come from a background that is authentically Kenyan.

This means that in spite of the Constitution – by means of which they are what they are – the Kenyan blood of eating the cake here and now without caring who baked it or how it was baked no doubt flows freely within their veins.

PUBLIC WAGE BILL

From reports in the media, it seems that there are a lot of public resources that go into allowances due to public officers in the course of duty. During conferences — such as the one that was in Mombasa last week — all those who attended received allowances over and above being accommodated and then accessing their “hard earned” salaries at the end of each month.

I am told that parliamentarians and now MCAs also get sitting allowances for “sitting” in the assembly and, of course, other allowances when they sit in committees. It is an interesting culture – and I know it because I work in a public institution – that calls for serious review. (READ: Sitting allowances gobble up Sh1bn)

Coming back to the matter of Vision 2030, the President has started a process that is aimed at bringing down the wage bill. This is one thing in government expenditure but whichever way one looks at it, there is much more that needs to be done if we are going to improve our economy.

Investing in the people of Kenya cannot be a choice and moving towards the future as one nation must be at the base of the thinking of everyone, particularly our “leaders”.

Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi. wamugundaw@uonbi.ac.ke