Vision 2030 is a pipe-dream ten years to its set deadline

Victor Lugalia  The aim of every government is to provide quality services to its citizens and to ...
ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to live a quality life within a clean and secure environment.

 This is what Kenya aims to achieve by 2030 which is fast approaching. As a means of achieving this, the government adopted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a panacea for achieving Vision 2030. Still, there's much to be done to make the vision realistic and achievable.

First, Vision 2030 aims at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in Kenya as a means to achieve sustainable development. However, this objective faces several drawbacks. The impact of climate change has always been unpredictable. This has led to reduced production which has seen a sharp rise in food prices. The rapidly growing population is always competing for food.

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The government should implement the Fisheries and Food Production Act, 2013 and Crops Act, 2O13 which should be key strategies to deal with the food situation in the country. A sustainable land management policy should be enforced to ensure that targeted productivity is achieved across the country. Universal Primary Education still remains a dream.

Despite the provision by the Kenyan Constitution that guarantees all children the right to education, there are still social, economic and cultural practices that bar children from accessing education. Gender equality and women empowerment has always been a challenge. For example, there are always more boys than girls in nearly all learning institutions.

Although the Constitution provides for and encourages recruitment and appointment of more women in the public service by reserving two-thirds of positions for them, there are still more men than women in key leadership positions in our country. Despite the need to have cheap energy by 2030, which will ensure an environmental sustainability, there is still usage of fossil fuels that continue to release toxic gases into the atmosphere. The rapid increase of our population continues to be a threat to our ecosystem. Our industries still channel their effluents to rivers which continue to endanger the aquatic life. With all these challenges and more, it is clear that more needs to be done to make Vision 2030 a reality.  Victor Lugalia, Kisumu.