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| Mrs Ngilu after launching he presidential campaign in Nairobi |
Mrs Ngilu's Basic Needs
Revolution Speech
Delivered at KICC as she launched her Presidential bid
"Salutations
NARC Party delegates, my
honorable colleagues, distinguished guests, Dear Kenyans, ladies and gentlemen.
It is with great humility and gratitude that I accept the Narc Party nomination
to run for the presidency of the Republic of Kenya in the 2013 general
elections. This is not only a great privilege to me, but a manifestation of the
confidence the NARC Party Membership have in me and my leadership.
Reflections
Ladies and gentlemen, fifty
years ago, Kenya attained her Independence and a new nation was born. The new
Kenya galvanized the great hopes,
dreams and aspirations of her people.
Today we stand at the
cross-roads of history - in between the past and the future; at a point in
history when we need to take stock of our past and reflect on our achievements
and failures. As we do that we need to ask ourselves some hard questions. I say
hard questions.
Hard
Questions
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| A fervent supporter of the Basic Needs Revolution |
Can we say that we are a nation
that is proud of its achievements? Can we say that we live in a country in
which we all enjoy decent lives?
•A
decent life where a family is able to meet their basic needs?
• A decent life where disease is not a
signature of death but a life process that can be managed?
• A decent life where our young people
are not condemned to “beba beba”, kumi
kumi or mob justice because we have failed to provide them with
opportunities?
• A decent life where a young person
does not see education as worthless
engagement because it cannot guarantee him/her a future?
• A decent life where women in Mandera,
Samburu or Mwingi do not have to walk for many kilometers to fetch water and
firewood?
• A decent life where a pastoralist in
the Tana Delta does not have to fight with his agrarian neighbor over pasture?
• A decent life where a farmer in Trans
Nzoia in Rift valley is confident that his hard labour to produce will be
rewarded by being paid on time?
Why do these questions still
worry us 50 years after independence? Note,
these are some of the questions that should be of concern to any leader.
Instead we have seen a leadership that is concerned more with itself than the
people they serve. A leadership that has its priorities upside down.
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| Mrs Ngilu addressing a rally in Kibwezi |
Current
State
Today our country is facing
enormous challenges.
The Household Expenditure and
Utilization Survey 2007 indicates that about 10 million (24%) of Kenyans cannot
access formal medical care when they get sick because they cannot afford. Most
of them are on herbal treatment. As a consequence, the country loses 24 million man/woman days
of productive labour the equivalent of
Ksh. 10 billion.
Our healthcare is in dire need
of overhaul. We have only 1 doctor for every 6000 patients. The irony is that
while our patients die in hospital for lack of medical personnel to attend to
them, our well trained health workers are migrating to other countries in
search of greener pastures. While the poor suffer, the policy makers and the
elite who are well cushioned through insurance covers seek healthcare services
abroad.
Similarly, our education system
is crying for attention. The quality of education we are offering to our
children is not well aligned both to our national needs and the market
economy.
Security is a major concern to
most Kenyans and more so to investors. We have failed to create opportunities
for the Kenyan youth to exploit their potential yet we condemn them when they
result to crime and other anti social activities such as drug abuse. We are
investing more in guns and recruitment of
police officers because we are fearful of our youth.
Dear Kenyans, some of the
reasons that we have been unable to address unemployment and biting poverty is
as a result of our appetite for imported goods and services. We make ourselves
poorer through importing products, goods and services that we can and should be
produce locally. The 2012 Economic Survey report shows that in 2011, Kenya imported goods worth Ksh 1.3 trillion against
exports worth Ksh 482 billion. The difference is a glaring deficit of Ksh 831
billion leading to unwarranted loss of our hard earned foreign exchange. This
is equivalent to exporting over 3 million middle income jobs a year.
We import sugar from Brazil, a
country over 10,000 kilometers away, yet this sugar costs the same as our local
sugar from Mumias, Nzoia, Sony-Awendo which are 500 kilometers from Nairobi?
Who is making the money in these deals at the expense of the farmers and poor
citizens especially women? As a country we pursue economic policies that enrich
farmers in Brazil, manufacturers in China, Carpenters in Malaysia, Engineers in
India and consequently impoverish our own farmers, manufacturers and
carpenters?
One may ask what is it that we
import? Is it machinery to support our manufacturing, or equipment to support
our farmers? Is it technology to improve efficiency and increase levels of
production? No, it is food and agricultural produce that we can produce and
should grow locally. For instance, we spent Ksh 11.4 billion to import maize,
Ksh. 12.5 billion to import rice, Ksh. 11 billion to import sugar, Ksh 11.8
billion to import textiles and second hand clothing, Ksh 59 billion to import
animal and vegetable oils such as milk, cheese and ghee. All totaling to Ksh 140.6
billion.
• What has happened to our rice farms in
Ahero, Mwea and Kano?
• What has happened to our maize farms
in Kitale, Eldoret and Bura?
• What has happened to our sugar belts
in Mumias, Nzoia, Muhoroni, Awendo, Ramisi and Tana Delta?
• What happened to the cotton fields in
Ukambani, Busia, Siaya and Homa bay?
• Why are we importing animal and
vegetable oils when we have livestock and vegetable farms across the country?
And not buying our local products from KMC, KCC, Molo and Brookside.
• How would we create any employment if
we excessively import goods and products that we can produce or manufacture
locally?
Dear
Kenyans, How did we get ourselves into
this difficult and embarrassing situation?
The
answer, dear Kenyans is in leadership. We have leadership that is focused more
on physical illustrations of growth and flamboyant plans than delivery.
• A leadership that watches the number
of children out of school and those on the streets grow by the day,
• A leadership where women die while
giving birth and where for every 1000 births, 75 of these children die before
they celebrate their fifth birthday due
lack of medicare;
• A leadership that fails our youths by
not creating opportunities for them to exploit their potential but is quick to
condemn them enmass.
• A leadership who would rather rejoice
in women dancing for them and giving them handouts than business contracts.
This is the leadership we have
had for the last 50 years! A leadership that has not been people-centred. A
leadership that has not been visionary and transformative.
Kenyans we have been
shortchanged!
Today, we as a country are at
crossroads and the choices we make must be real and decisive. Albert Einstein
once said, ‘The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting a different result”. Kenyans the choices are clear. We can
choose another fifty years of doing the same thing and hoping for different
results or we can begin a new journey with a difference. A journey that
accelerates the realization of our
dreams and aspirations. A journey that would lead us to the Kenyan promise of a
just, fair and equitable society.
I choose the new journey and
that is why I have accepted my party’s nomination to run for the presidency.
In accepting this onerous
responsibility I understand what is required of me. As a public servant with
over 20 years experience I understand the challenges that Kenyans are grappling
with. I have served my country with
diligience, focus and clear sense of purpose. Whenever I have faced challenges
I have overcome them and grown stronger. But this election is not about me. It
is about all of us Kenyans charting a new course. It is about all of us
changing our ways of doing things.
It is about a basic needs
revolution!
• A revolution that will put food and
water on every Kenyan table.
• A revolution that will ensure that
every child in Kenya will get proper quality education.
• A revolution that will create wealth.
• A revolution that will ensure that
every Kenyan gets affordable quality healthcare.
• A revolution that will ensure that
will empower the Kenyan women to take their rightful place in developing this
country.
The
issues of food and water, healthcare, education, women empowerment and wealth
creation will no longer be any other business (AOB) items on the agenda. They
are the Agenda.
The
five doors that you walked through are symbolic of my promises to you in the
five years that I seek to serve.
I
commit to deliver 5 promises in 5 years namely;
• I commit to make food and water
accessible and affordable to all Kenyans.
• I commit to ensure that all Kenyans
get quality and affordable healthcare.
• I promise that Kenyan children and
youth will get affordable, quality and relevant education that would make them
competitive players in the world economy.
• I will ensure that women are empowered
to play their rightful role in the development of this nation.
• But more importantly I will ensure
that every Kenyan is engaged in meaningful work and can afford a decent
life.
If you honor to elect me as
your President in the next general election this is how I propose to deliver on
these 5 promises.
Wealth
Creation
I will create wealth through
intervening in 5 key areas of our economy namely agriculture, manufacturing and
industry, tourism, renewable energy, sports and entertainment. These are the
sectors that can offer majority of our citizen’s job opportunities and will be
the pivot to jumpstart this ecomony. I
will utilize the hands, brains and full potential of every Kenyan to create
wealth.
I will revolutionize the small
holder agriculture by supporting them through subsidies, credit facilities for
farm inputs, small machines and equipment. It is unacceptable that 50 years
after independence our farmers are still tilling land with hoes and oxen driven
ploughs. I will revive agricultural extension services. I will link research to
production through increasing the support to our agricultural institutions. I
will aggressively identify and negotiate for markets for our farm produce in
various strategic countries.
I will support the commercial
agriculture through subsidizing on key inputs through low interest credit facilities.
I will streamline the post-harvest handling processes by investing in modern
equipment for harvesting, grain drying, processing and storage. I will develop
more storage infrastructure in the famine prone areas to ensure that food is
closer to the people. I will reintegrate research into the agricultural process
and ensure that we produce crops and produce that is both relevant and
commercially viable across the different markets.
Our strategy will be one of
BRAIN FED agriculture and not just rain fed agriculture. This strategy will
assure Kenya of food security where food will be accessible and affordable. We
will also make agriculture commercially viable even for the small holder
farmer.
To ensure that our
manufacturers enjoy being here, we will undertake key strategic measures that
will enable manufacturers produce more, sell more and therefore employ more. My
government will review taxes to make them responsive to conducting business and
manufacturing. I will enforce the law against counterfeits and build capacity
of Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to deliver its mandate. I will develop the
energy infrastructure to make it affordable and stable for manufacturing. I
will make Kilindini port a reliable and efficient gateway of our exports and imports.
However to create more jobs and
wealth across the country, I propose to robustly initiate and support the
cottage industries. Upon taking office I will direct that all public sector
offices procure only locally manufactured furniture. This will create jobs to carpenters and iron
mongers on Ngong road, Gikomba, Muthurwa, Nairobi west and in all the counties
so that they can more money from their work. My government will turn their
workshops into modern cottage industries with proper amenities and equipment.
This will be done by setting aside funds for their growth in all counties in
every annual annual budget. My key role as President will be to look for
markets for Kenyan goods across the world.
I will re-engineer Tourism by
setting aside funds for each county to invest in tourist products that are
unique to these counties. I will identify and support new tourism products as
we add value to the traditional ones. My government will work with the private
sector to increase hospitality facilities and to brand our country as a
destination of choice.
If elected, I will invest
heavily in developing renewable energy. I will initiate a program where all
public schools and hospitals will run on green energy. The installation and
management of these will be put in the hands of women and youth entrepreneurs.
Dear Kenyans, our country is
renowned for its sports prowess especially in athletics. Other sports are
lagging behind and yet these have great potential for wealth creation. To
ensure that we tap into this rich resource we will set up the National Lottery
within the first year of my government to support sports, arts, music and
theatre industries. We will encourage, through tax holidays the development and
management of modern sports facilities, in areas like Iten and Mombasa.
Food
and Water
I will ensure that the prices
of basic commodities like maize, rice and sugar are affordable across the
country through a deliberate program that will reduce ineffiencies like long
drying time and delayed delivery to stores, increase storage and enhanced
access to markets through fast delivery.
We will reduce reliance on imported food stuffs.
We will follow through our
agricultural plan to ensure long term food security and stable food prices into
the future.
Dear Kenyans, according to a
World Bank report 2010, we spend over Ksh 26 billion to treat preventable
diseases because 16.4 million Kenyans do not have access to safe clean drinking
water. Our people are dying of cholera, diahorrea and other water borne
diseases because we have not invested adequately in water harvesting and
storage. I will reverse this. We will put this money to better use.
Meanwhile, I will continue to
distribute water to all Kenyans through the various interventions that I have
started while serving you as the Minister of Water and Irrigation. We will
construct more dams to store water for irrigation and domestic use. My
government will increase the acreage under irrigation.
Education
On education, my government
will set aside money to support the employment of at least 5000 teachers each
year to deal with the teaching shortfall in our schools. I will re-engineer our
education system by ensuring that all primary schools are ICT compliant through
a program called “1 child 1 laptop”. I will develop infrastructure through a
program “primary to secondary” where we will build a secondary school for each
2 primary schools. We will support each county to develop their technical
institutions by providing them with annual grants. I will make our public universities
competitive by substantively increasing funding to research and development.
Healthcare
Dear Kenyans, at current
estimates provided by National Health Insurance Fund, we can provide you with
healthcare at Ksh 2850 per year as quoted by various well known health
providers. This is equivalent to healthcare at Ksh8 per day! This translates to
a health budget of Ksh 114 billion per annum. The current health budget is Ksh
80 billion.
Therefore upon taking office I
will begin the implementation of this Scheme to ensure that all Kenyans can
access quality healthcare. This we will do by incrementally allocating more
resources to the current health budget. This will include reproductive health
care services for women. No Kenyan woman should die giving birth for lack of
professional healthcare services. I will continue to improve the healthcare
infrastructure. In order to achieve this we will absorp all those trained health professionals who
are currently unemployed to deal with the deficit.
Dear Kenyans, trust me to
deliver on healthcare. I have the knowledge of the sector, the passion and
experience.
Women
Empowerment
Women of Kenya, the year of
Jubilee is here! We are destined for plenty if we harness our resources and
potential.
On women empowerment I will
ensure that women access government business and large contracts in the
infrastructure sector i.e. roads, energy, water and public works. My government
will ensure that the women ‘Chamas’ or ‘Myethias’, Mothers’Unions, Women’s
Guilds, Catholic Women Associations, Ushirika wa Akina Mama and other women
groups use their financial and organizational structures and capacities to
access these large business contracts.
My government will support you through guarantees and credit which can be paid
back as your businesses receive payments from these contracts. I can confidently say that it is an
established fact that women do not default on loans and therefore make very
reliable partners. I know that money in a woman’s hand is money in the family.
I will review the Women
Enterprise Fund to ensure that it supports women businesses better through
capacity building, credit, and market support. I am sure many of us have seen
mothers in Kithimani or Londiani with babies strapped on their backs running
after buses to sell their wares. My government will ensure that this Fund
supports these traders to get their produce to the markets in better ways.
Dear
Kenyans,
We must go back to the basics.
50 years of plans, talking and policies that have not translated into better
life for half the Kenyans is enough. The time for small talk and plans is over.
It is time to implement the big picture that our founding fathers and mothers
envisioned in the Sessional Paper No 10 of 1965. These are the promises that I
will keep in order to deliver a decent life to you Kenyans.
Therefore my call to you is to
be part of this journey. Believe in Kenya by buying Kenyan products. Let us
support our brothers and sisters in the village not through handouts but by
buying their products. You will no
longer need to M-pesa your relatives money to send their children to hospital
or school because my government will take up its responsibility. Lets make
our food affordable by supporting our
farmers in Eldoret, Kericho, Ahero, Bura and Mwea.
In this year of the Jubilee let
us choose the path to plenty!
Together we shall succeed!
Pamoja Tutafaulu!
HAKI YETU SASA. INAWEZEKANA!
Thank you and God bless
you."
