What if President William Ruto’s recent declaration that Kenya should aim to be like Singapore isn’t merely wishful thinking but an evidence-based prediction of what’s already unfolding?
The post-colonial development blueprint led by the founding fathers ushered in independence and secured Kenya as a sovereign nation-state.
The Moi era seems to have strengthened our governance systems and laid the institutional foundation. It was followed by the Kibaki era. A period that is believed to have propelled democratic and economic processes.
Uhuru came in and expanded our infrastructure, and his successor, William Ruto, has now stepped in with a bold attempt to do what the others never even dreamed of: to push Kenya on a path of growth through an overarching vision of ultimately becoming first world.
Scepticism forms a big part of any democratic governance, especially here in Kenya and of course just like the previous ones, Ruto’s government cannot escape this.
Due to past occurrences, some Kenyans believe that developing ourselves alone is not a walk in the park. If we study history and global development, it’s quite observable that wealthy nations were once poor, unstable and actually underdeveloped.
Singapore, the UAE, China, South Korea and many others faced crippling issues like poverty, diseases, hunger, corruption, political turmoil and collapsing infrastructure.
Their transformation wasn’t accidental and it wasn’t instant either. What changed their trajectory was bold and decisive leadership paired with a willing citizenry that came together towards one objective: progress. Harambee and Uzalendo we would put it.
In each case, a leader emerged who challenged the status quo, set a long-term national vision and initiated foundational reforms. Then the people bought in and played a supportive role.
The results were not immediate at all, and in fact in some cases, those leaders never lived to see the full fruits of their ambitions. Yet the mindset and processes they initiated pushed their nations onto a lasting path of modernisation.
Development is rarely smooth, and if it actually is, then there’s a lot of questions that need to be asked. Development comes with resistance, sacrifices, difficult policies and the risk of failure. But history consistently shows that bold national transformation demands both courage and patience.
Think of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, Deng Xiaoping in China, Park Chung-hee in South Korea, and even Paul Kagame, closer to home in Rwanda. Their leadership styles differed, and their strategies were not as perfect per se, involving autocratic tendencies, which led them to face resistance from different quarters of society.
However, one thing that was common amongst all is that they shared a very strong commitment to national economic progress, and so, the end justified the means.
Ruto’s rallying call for us to aim for first-world status is well-informed, timely and backed by very strategic projects. As we know, any nation has three key resources that form the factors of production identified by classical economists: human capital (labour), physical capital (land) and financial resources (capital). All developing nations must first fix the human factor for sustainable development to take place as it is humans that add value to land and make money.
A country may invest heavily in infrastructure to modernise roads, ports, and cities. It can also implement fiscal reforms to attract capital in the form of debt and foreign direct investment, but unless these changes are linked to human capital so as to uplift the quality of life of ordinary citizens, true development will always remain out of reach.
Investments in human capital generally involve investments in agriculture, food security and healthcare to unlock physical energy, investments in infrastructure and housing to enhance social energy and cohesion, investments in education and industrialisation to secure resource energy, innovation and wealth creation, as well as investments in technology to catalyse and accelerate all of this.
These are our key priorities, and that is why I presume the current leadership has programmes in healthcare, housing, industrialisation and the digital economy as key pillars of BETA so as to unlock our human capital’s full potential.
Kenyan youth constitute over 75 per cent of our population and are our nation’s key resource—providing the human capital needed to power the country’s industrialisation and economic growth agenda.
For sustainable development to happen, they cannot be left behind. They must be at the heart of every vision, plan, policy, investment, or project that the government undertakes.
Cognizant of this, we at Mtaji are leading from the front. Our digital platform (M-Taji.com) does two things: First, it enables real-time tracking of government and political projects using satellite data, bringing transparency and accountability to public service delivery. Second, it opens the door for Kenya’s youth to actively participate in that delivery and be economically empowered.
This kind of thinking isn’t far-fetched, given that all developed countries followed the same script: Get bold, decisive, and visionary leadership and invest in your human capital.
Mbehi David. The writer is founder of M-Taji and chairman of Youth for Government Delivery Movement
