Business Daily (Nairobi)
Ibrahim Mwathane
29 June 2008
opinion
We have been made to understand that the drafters of Vision 2030 are real "gurus". They have crafted this thing which should steer us to year 2030 in prosperity. Oh yes, it stands on a triad of the economic, social and political pillars.
On the economic, we shall sustain a 10 per cent annual economic growth to the target year; we shall, on the social, ensure a just and cohesive society enjoying equitable social development in a clean and secure environment and that, on the political, we shall embrace an issue oriented, people centred, result oriented and accountable democratic system.
All very well said. But we needed to get through with the General Election. Then twang, the polls came, disputes arose, and Kenya flared. People scampered.
Systematic displacements from their parcels of land ensued. To date, we are struggling to resettle them. Everybody seems to agree... besides the politics, there's a land thing here. It remains fundamental to our economy, social and political stability.
So why is this hard for the drafters of Vision 2030 to see and embed? In my view, the three pillars advanced as fundamental for the attainment of vision 2030 will remain unstable unless supported by a much more stable pillar of the land sector.
This is a message I have belaboured to pass to the public in a number of write ups and presentations. I just don't quite understand how the "gurus" of Vision 2030 don't get it. Is it complex?
And to vindicate this, after the electoral violence flare up, the entire work plan for actualising the vision had to be reviewed. And, given the importance of agriculture to the eventual realisation of the vision, more revisions will be due.
Optimal agricultural production hangs around secure land tenure. In the event that we do not successfully address the issue of tenure in the Rift Valley, Coast and the Central Province, agricultural production will remain undermined for both small scale and large scale producers.
And that's to do with land. Without optimal agricultural production, forget an economic growth of 10 per cent. Kenya will instead be pretty busy buying and begging for food. Out then with the economic pillar.
In our urban centres, projected to hold half of our population in the near future, over 50 per cent are estimated to live in informal settlements. Without security of tenure, without basic services.
And of course they will never get basic services without certainty of tenure. Can such people enjoy equitable social development and secure environment? Out flies the social pillar.
We all remember what happened following the disputed December elections. Scores of people got displaced. Many are still smarting from the after effects.
Land continues to be routinely mentioned as an issue in Coast, Central and the Rift Valley. Mau Forest, for instance, keeps sending national signals that human activity and the environment are at conflict. The matter is sensitive. The issue could easily undermine national politics.
The recovery of grabbed public land throws national politics into seasonal "highs" and "lows". All about land. So then how stable can our political pillar be without stabilising the land sector pillar?
Let's be honest, our drafters of vision 2030 don't seem to have quite internalised the fundamental position of the land pillar in our policy journey. Neither has Finance minister Amos Kimunya who provided no financial estimates or policy statement on how our national land reform programme would be implemented.
Is it lack of understanding or foresight on this issue? Or is that there is no political will to go it all the way? Can we please get an appropriate explanation.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
