NAIROBI, Kenya — Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said Kenya can join the league of wealthy and developed nations if the country sustains strong leadership, builds confidence in its capabilities and protects long-term development policies from political disruption.
Speaking on Wednesday, August 12, during the launch of the Beyond Vision 2030 national conversation, Kindiki said Kenya had already established foundations for economic transformation but needed sustained reforms and policy continuity to achieve higher levels of prosperity.
The Deputy President said the new national conversation provides an opportunity for Kenyans to assess the country’s progress and agree on priorities for the decades beyond the expiry of Vision 2030.
“I believe that, as Professor Hino has told us, Kenya, Africa, can venture into the league of wealthy, developed nations. We just need good leadership,” Kindiki said.
He argued that African countries should not view wealth and development as achievements reserved for other regions, saying Kenyans must have confidence in their own ability to transform the country.
“We also need confidence in ourselves that what other nations can do, what other races can do, the African race can also generate countries that can move from poverty and move into progress. It is possible,” he said.
Kindiki cites economic gains
Kindiki used the occasion to highlight what he described as gains recorded by the Kenya Kwanza administration since taking office in 2022.
He said Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves had risen to $15.1 billion, which he described as the highest level in the country’s history. He also said inflation had declined from 9.6 per cent when the administration assumed office to below six per cent.
Kenya attracted $3.2 billion in foreign direct investment last year, according to the Deputy President, while lending rates from the Central Bank of Kenya to commercial banks had declined from 13.5 per cent to 8.7 per cent.
Kindiki said the lower rates would help improve access to credit for businesses and support private-sector investment.
Agriculture was another area he cited, saying the government had registered 7.2 million farmers, allowing authorities to obtain information on farmers’ locations, crops, farm sizes and fertiliser requirements.
“We used to work on guesswork. We didn’t know how many farmers we have, where they are, what they grow, the size of their farms, the kind of fertiliser they need,” Kindiki said.
He said maize production had increased from 44 million bags in 2022 to 75 million bags last year, while tea earnings rose from Sh138 billion to Sh215 billion over the same period.
Sugar production, he added, increased from 472,000 metric tonnes to 815,000 metric tonnes, while processed milk production rose from 4.6 billion litres to 5.5 billion litres.
Education, healthcare and infrastructure
Kindiki also pointed to increased government spending on education, saying funding had risen from Sh500 billion in 2022 to Sh784 billion this year.
He said the government had recruited 100,000 teachers and constructed 23,000 classrooms.
In healthcare, he said the number of Kenyans covered by public medical insurance had risen from eight million under the former NHIF system to 32.2 million.
On infrastructure, Kindiki said the government had paid Sh177 billion in pending bills owed to road contractors, allowing projects covering approximately 6,000 kilometres across the 47 counties to resume.
Electricity connectivity had also expanded, he said, with connected households increasing from 8.9 million to 10.3 million. The government’s target is to connect all 15.6 million households within four years.
The Deputy President further cited job creation through the affordable housing programme and the Ajira digital jobs initiative, alongside the expansion of fibre-optic infrastructure and ICT hubs.
Warning against policy disruption
Despite highlighting the government’s achievements, Kindiki said Kenya’s long-term development could be undermined if successive administrations abandon programmes when political power changes hands.
“The biggest threat of African countries, the biggest threat of developing countries, is policy disruption,” he said.
He called for development programmes to be protected from political interests and urged leaders to prioritise national objectives over personal or electoral considerations.
“Somebody comes with their ego as opposed to the national interest, and they want to change this, change the other, disrupt this, instead of perfecting the foundation on which our country has been raised,” Kindiki said.
He also cautioned against turning development into a political contest.
“We can politicise everything else. Let us not politicise the development of our country,” he said.
