President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured Kenyans that his administration is
firmly on track in delivering its promises to Kenyans. In a New Year
address to the nation, Kenyatta pledged that his government will focus
on reconciliation and unity in the new year and build on the
achievements of the past eight months. Jacky Maribe with the president’s
2014 promise
Fellow Kenyans
Friends of Kenya
I am pleased to send you this goodwill message and New Year Greetings.
We thank God for the year ending. It was the year in which we put our
detractors to shame by holding a peaceful and successful election, a
year in which we ushered in devolution, and a year in which we
celebrated the golden jubilee of our independence.
We had tough challenges along the way, but we had the resolve to
tackle them in order to deliver improved lives to our people as outlined
in our Jubilee manifesto. We are firmly on track.
We look to 2014 with great enthusiasm and optimism. At Jamhuri Day I
committed to national unity as one of my driving objectives, and so in
2014 my Administration will pursue a theme of “Reconciliation and Unity
towards inclusive growth”. Unity is important for us as a nation. Coming
out of the Christmas period, it details the message, “Love your
neighbour as you love yourself” and “Do unto others what you would have
them do to you.”
Fellow Kenyans
Friends of Kenya
Last year, my Administration launched a number of projects that form
the plank of the Jubilee manifesto. Free maternity services have moved
our country closer to achieving Millennium Development Goal Number 5 on
improving maternal health and eased the pain of childbirth for many
mothers. It has also greatly improved our monitoring of HIV prevalence.
Our laptops programme for primary entry children will begin in
earnest in the coming weeks. Thousands of jobs will come on stream as
the construction of the standard gauge railway gets underway in earnest
from Mombasa. Similarly, more jobs are on the way as our programme to
irrigate one million acres of land becomes a reality, starting in Tana
River and Kilifi Counties. In 2014, the Jubilee manifesto will come
alive. Billions of shillings of investment in our energy sector will
also start pouring in this year, raising the ante on our plan to add
5,000 megawatts of electricity on the national grid in the next 36
months, and to lower electricity prices by at least 50 per cent in that
period.
Fellow Kenyans
Friends of Kenya
The Jubilee Coalition is committed to inclusive growth and improving
the lives of all our people. Whatever it takes to do so – be it by
legislation or policy that transforms our political, economic or social
structures to accelerate growth – we shall do so. Access to education,
clean water, health services – these are imperatives that our people
should and must have access to.
As an Administration, our primary responsibility is security of our
people and their property. In the last quarter of 2013 we launched two
major policing initiatives – one in which the communities are deeply
involved, “Nyumba Kumi”, and the second, a technology-driven strategic
operation, including the use of CCTV in the streets of our major cities
and towns, and broadband connectivity at border points. We have invested
heavily in surveillance equipment and in vehicles, which we believe
will help drive crime away from our shores. That said, let me remind all
of us that security is a shared responsibility. All of us have a role
to play in ensuring safety for all Kenyans. All of us must commit to the
rule of law.
Fellow Kenyans
Friends of Kenya
The New Year should see further progress in our agenda to ensure free
movement of persons in eastern Africa and greater integration on the
continent. We will continue to work with our neighbours in East Africa
to drive that agenda. We will also work to help each other, as east
African countries, to resolve security challenges that may crop up from
time to time.
As you are already aware, we as a region are hard at work resolving
the crisis in South Sudan. With our partners in IGAD, we have appointed
special envoys to seek a negotiated settlement of the crisis and to
protect the fledgling democracy in Africa’s youngest nation. It is a
task that we are committed to seeing to complete fruition. We salute our
men and women in uniform, as well as all others, involved in evacuating
Kenyans from South Sudan and delivering emergency supplies. We also
salute our men and women in uniform involved in peace-keeping and
peace-enforcement around the world, especially those with AMISOM in
Somalia. We are safe if our region is safe.
Fellow Kenyans
Friends of Kenya
I call on all Kenyans to play their part in making our shared dream
of growth and prosperity a reality. All of us should partner with the
National and County Governments as we seek to implement the various
Vision 2030 projects and programmes. I, for one, believe we can achieve
the goals of Vision 2030 a decade earlier.
As we move forward, I urge all leaders to pursue a brand of politics
that helps to improve the welfare of the citizens of this country. We
must avoid parochial and divisive politics, and embrace a national
culture that will define us positively in the next 50 years and beyond.
Our national agenda must be progressive, issue-based and people-centred.
On the part of the Government, we will encourage mature and responsible
engagement among leaders; among the three arms of the Government and
between Business and Government.
I wish you all a happy and blessed 2014.
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS KENYA
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