KERICHO, Kenya, Oct 9 – Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said Kenya’s economic prosperity depends on working systems that will steer the country towards rapid industrialization and the creation of more job opportunities.
Saying it was imperative for the country to move from pre-industrialized to industrialized society, the PM said there was need to develop the private sector as the engine of economic growth.
Raila said it was unfortunate that Kenya was still a struggling third world country because of poor economic policies in the past adding the new constitution provided proper structures that readied the country for an economic takeoff.
The PM was speaking in Kericho when he addressed participants at a civic education forum on devolved system of government .
He said,“ Kenya should not play in the league of poor countries, it shames me as a leader to go begging for food and other assistance from outside the country , when we can be self reliant.”
At the same time, Raila asked Kenyans to stop the culture of depending on the public service for jobs saying government ministries and parastatals have only 500,000 positions which were not available.
“We must grow the private sector to finish poverty and remove this country from this economic quagmire,” he added.
On the Mau , Raila reassured that the government will resettle all those who were removed from the Mau forest on alternative land elsewhere.
Emphasizing that the government had not reneged on its earlier promise, the PM said the resettlement programme would also cover other internally displaced people still living in IDP camps around the country.
Raila noted that the people of Mau like elsewhere in the former rift valley province overwhelmingly voted for him adding that he would be the last person to want to harm them.
He acknowledged that the Mau issue was also of considerable interest to him adding a solution would be found.
In response to concerns by local leaders that the Mau issue had polluted the political atmosphere in the area, Raila said he was ready to talk to all the stake holders and locals leaders to find a solution to the issue .
Once again , the PM condemned tribalism saying it was the cause of many evils in the society and asked Kenyans to shun it.
“No one applied to be born in a particularly place. This was an act of God which no one should take advantage of,” he added.
Leaders who spoke at the forum said the Kipsigis people and the Kalenjin in general were misled through orchestrated propaganda to vote against the new constitution.
Saying they still supported the PM , the leaders said their voting pattern during the referendum did not reflect their conviction.
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