Kenya to Lead Eastern Africa into a New Day of Prosperity

Jamhuri a day for deep reflection


Publication Date: 12/12/2007

Forty Four years ago today, Kenya became an independent country. The last shackles of colonialism were dismantled and a brand new member of the family of nations became not just free, but also responsible for its own destiny.

That is really what independence is all about. An anniversary like today’s, of course, is occasion for great pride and celebration.

But it should also be an occasion for quiet and sober reflection. We have undoubtedly made great strides as a nation. Kenya has remained largely stable and peaceful. Democracy has become well-entrenched, and everyone is free to participate in politics.

Basic human rights are respected and the people enjoy remarkable freedom of expression and association. A strong civil society and a robust free press provide powerful checks on the political class.

The economy is doing relatively well, and that, combined with a modern communications infrastructure, makes Kenya the fulcrum of the wider eastern African region.

Indeed, Kenya enjoys in this region the same kind of importance and stature as that held by Nigeria in West Africa, Egypt in North Africa, and South Africa in the lower half of the continent.

That is no mean achievement. But how far we have come since independence must be weighed against how far we could actually have gone.

And then things do not look so remarkable. We are ahead of our neighbours, not because we have done anything significant, but because some of them handled their affairs in a particularly awful way.

The fact is that while all economic and social indicators look good compared to those of our neighbours and the rest of the continent, we have fallen short in many areas, and in some, we have even gone backwards.

We should be measuring ourselves, not against other nations which have under-performed, but against the success stories that, at independence were at the same stage of development but have now left us far behind.

Those are the standards we need to look at as we assess Kenya’s achievements at 44.