Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has criticised the current state of governance in Kenya, saying many of the issues his administration warned about have now come to pass, resulting in lost progress and public suffering.
Speaking during the National Delegates Convention (NDC)on Friday, Uhuru said his message during the last general election was ignored and dismissed, but has since been validated by current realities.
“Some of the truths we spoke of yesterday have become the realities of today,” he said.
Kenyatta pointed to the rollback of several social programmes initiated under his administration, including the maternal health scheme Linda Mama, which he said has been replaced by “untested” and “unproven” policies.
“Today, many of the gains we had in the past have been eroded. Linda Mama and others replaced by new untried, untested schemes, and while we wait for these experiments to work, Kenyans suffer and our progress is retarded,” he said.
The former president also blamed political rhetoric and populist narratives for derailing meaningful debate during the last election cycle.
“In the last general election, I tried to pass this message, but it fell on deaf ears, and it fell on myths of dynasties and so on,” he added.
Uhuru called on party delegates to support reforms aimed at revitalising internal structures, including amendments to the party constitution.
He said the objective is to prevent past political manoeuvres from hindering future progress.
“Our first mission was to pass amendments to the party constitution to ensure machinations of the past will not be used to hold back our progress,” he said.
He urged the inclusion of young people and individuals of integrity into leadership roles, noting that ethical, compassionate, and open-minded leadership is essential for rebuilding trust in institutions.
“Men and women, especially the young in mind and spirit… men and women of integrity who can be entrusted with our future,” he said.
“Men and women with compassion and wisdom… who know as human beings they can make mistakes, but be ready to correct them.”
Reflecting on his leadership experience, Kenyatta said good governance requires both innovation and respect for lessons learned from the past.
“Over the years, as a leader, you succeed by looking at past success and injecting new ideas and improving them, but you fail by ignoring the past mistakes,” he said.
“This while always having an open mind and a listening ear, and especially the voices of our younger generation.”
