Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has faulted the current state of governance in Kenya, saying his administration’s warnings ahead of the 2022 General Election have now materialised, leaving citizens worse off.
Speaking on Friday at the National Delegates Convention (NDC), Kenyatta said many of the gains made under his presidency had been eroded by what he described as “untested” and “unproven” policies adopted by the current government.
“Some of the truths we spoke of yesterday have become the realities of today,” he said, pointing to the scrapping of key social programmes such as the free maternal health initiative, Linda Mama.
“Today, many of the gains we had in the past have been eroded. Linda Mama and others [have been] replaced by new untried, untested schemes. While we wait for these experiments to work, Kenyans suffer and our progress is retarded,” he added.
Kenyatta also reflected on the heated 2022 campaigns, blaming populist narratives and divisive rhetoric for drowning out sober debate.
“In the last general election, I tried to pass this message, but it fell on deaf ears. It fell on myths of dynasties and so on,” he said.
The former head of state urged delegates to support reforms within his party, including amendments to its constitution, to safeguard against political manoeuvres that, he said, had derailed progress in the past.
“Our first mission was to pass amendments to the party constitution to ensure machinations of the past will not be used to hold back our progress,” he said.
Kenyatta further called for the inclusion of young people and leaders of integrity in politics, stressing that ethical and compassionate leadership was essential to restoring public trust.
“Men and women, especially the young in mind and spirit, of integrity who can be entrusted with our future… men and women with compassion and wisdom who know as human beings they can make mistakes, but be ready to correct them,” he said.
Reflecting on lessons from his presidency, Kenyatta noted that effective leadership requires both innovation and humility to learn from past experiences.
“As a leader, you succeed by looking at past success and injecting new ideas to improve them, but you fail by ignoring past mistakes,” he said.
