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Mugo Kibati of Vision 2030/FILE

Kenya

2012 politics will not hinder our vision – Kibati

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 9 – The development plans for Vision 2030 should continue unhindered, despite the expected change of government after this year’s General Election, Vision 2030 Director General Mugo Kibati said on Monday.

Kibati expressed optimism that the ambitious programme to transform Kenya into a middle income economy by 2030 will stay on track, especially once organisational measures are put in place to accommodate the coming changes.

“We have planning a system that is chaired by the president with the governors as key stakeholders. We plan to take Vision 2030 to Parliament as a Sessional Paper so Parliament approves it as the official national development plan. There is no reason why we should not see more aggressive and accelerated development going forward,” he said.

Kibati did however admit to obvious challenges with the transition from a government system that has dictated the direction of the country for almost 50 years, to a more decentralised arrangement.

Since its inception, Vision 2030 has made significant headway in the area of infrastructure, and it is anticipated that the incoming administration will be able to keep up the momentum especially in establishing a proper rail transport system.

The Economic Pillar has proven to be another difficult feat, having missed the target of achieving 10 percent GDP growth by 2012, which Kibati attributes to the events of the 2008 post-election violence that saw growth plummet to 1.6 percent from 7.1 percent.

“The issue of the Economic Pillar is that foundations should be set in place in terms of infrastructure, the governance must also be in place for the right policies to be put in place. So the Economic Pillar cannot be looked at in isolation,” he said.

Still with the promising signs of a stabilising shilling, lower inflation figures and possible easing of interest rates and fuel prices; the 10 percent GDP growth target could be a reality in the next two to three years, Kibati added.

However, the success of the Vision 2030 plan, he asserted, cannot be solely hinged on the government but will require active involvement on the part of the private sector and the public.

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As a result a major focus for the Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat this year is engaging the public on their stake in the implementation process of the development plan.

“It’s important that people have ownership of it [Vision 2030] so we publicise it through our campaign, but beyond that we have the PPP (Public Private Partnership) Bill. Also we’re going to take the Sessional Paper to Parliament; parliamentarians as the people’s representatives will be able to engage with Vision 2030,” he said.

This year should see the completion of the commuter rail system from Nairobi Railway Station to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the fibre-networking of all 47 counties by June, upgrading of JKIA Unit 4 as well as the groundbreaking of the new airport by the end of the year and Lamu Port in the next few months.

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