East African Community heads of State (from left) Uhuru Kenyatta, Paul
Kagame, Yoweri Museveni, John Magufuli and Burundi's deputy president
Gaston Sindimwo at the EAC Summit in Arusha on February 1, 2019. PHOTO |
FILBERT RWEYEMAMU
East Africans entered the New Year with promises and pledges
from their leaders to address hunger, education, health, land rights and
housing, security and corruption.
Presidents John
Magufuli (Tanzania), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya)
picked issues that they had been talking about at various platforms and
close to their hearts.
From a long punchy speech from
President Museveni to a short and snappy take by President Magufuli and a
forgettable speech by President Kenyatta, East Africans have something
to hold their leaders accountable for or not in the new decade.
In
a shift from tradition, President Magufuli spoke to the country while
on a visit at Rubondo Island National Park in Lake Victoria during which
he dwelt on his pet subject of eliminating misuse of public funds and
corruption.
He mentioned aircraft purchase for Tanzania
Airline, the construction of the new standard gauge railway and free
education as some of his successfully implemented projects. He said for
2020 to be the year of nation welfare, Tanzanians have to maintain
peace, love and unity.
President Magufuli also said he will intensify the war on fraudsters in public office by removing them from office.
“This country is looted to date, and I am praying that God may
continue to give me the energy in the year 2020 to serve you, and
continue to sack all of them because controlling government expenditure
will enable us to implement more projects,” adding that, “With the money
recovered so far we have purchased 11 planes, are constructing the SGR
and offering free education.”
The president did not
speak on the economy or politics, which is expected to occupy the
country in the coming months as the October general election and his
re-election looms.
Kenyatta's promise
Unlike
President Magufuli, Kenya’s President Kenyatta will be facing a tough
2020 because Kenyans expect him to implement some of the promises that
his Jubilee party made to the electorates in 2017, but which have not
been realised.
Addressing the nation on New Year’s eve
from State House Mombasa, President Kenyatta did not offer much beyond
official positive messaging that lacked concrete promises and was short
of addressing the pressing issues of the nation is facing like hard
economic times.
The president said: “My Administration
has committed to addressing the challenges of unemployment, poverty,
hunger, inequality and poor health. Even as we accept that despite the
progress there are still challenges that we must overcome,” he said.
Kenyans
are currently facing increasingly difficult economic times, with job
losses, high food prices, difficult business environment and generally
shrinking disposable income.
“In the year 2020, we will
continue to make Kenya a better nation for all her people as we build
bridges of brotherhood among our people by weaving a stronger fabric of
patriotism and nationhood,” he said.
President
Kenyatta said Kenya continues to make steady progress in the areas of
education, healthcare, food security and nutrition, infrastructure,
renewable energy, defence and security and industrialisation.
The
president implored citizens to shun negativity. “By us together
accepting our challenges should form the basis not for division but
rather a clarion call of how we must come together in order to turn
challenge to opportunity and prosperity,” he said.
He
pointed out that 2020 offers new opportunities for unity, prosperity,
positive social change and the deepening of democratic gains and
enhancing the rule of law.
“It is my sincere hope and
prayer that in the New Year all Kenyans will come together and rally
around our shared aspirations for a better Kenya. On my part, I will
continue to foster an environment of unity, constructive political
engagement, tolerance and the facilitation of participation by all
Kenyans,” he said.
Currently, the war against corruption has not made significant headway with no major conviction despite the many cases in court.
In
separate televised New Year message President Magufuli’s Zanzibar
counterpart, President Ali Mohamed Shein commended the people for peace
that saw the island “successfully implement development programmes,
which have resulted in the economy to grow at 7.1 per cent.”
Unlike
President Magufuli he reminded political leaders that another election
was around the corner and asked them to fulfil their election pledges to
the people.
Museveni's message
In
Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, delivered a six-point New Year
message with a punch and touched on security, prosperity, education,
land, environment and corruption.
A tough talking
President Museveni zeroed in on land rights citing the 1995 constitution
that enshrined the rights of land owners and promised to resolve land
wrangles hit the country recently and promised to deal with land
grabbers and at the same time pledged to compensate absentee landlords.
On
insecurity, which has been a thorn in the flesh of his government with
several high profile murders and even suspected serial killings, the
president assured the country that new security measures, including CCTV
cameras are already having a positive impact on security. But he also
admonished lazy police officers and vowed to sack them and replace them
with disciplined young Ugandans.
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