We are focused on building a cohesive society, says Uhuru
President Uhuru Kenyatta has reaffirmed his commitment to building a cohesive and progressive Kenyan society through participatory processes such as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
“We have initiated the Building Bridges Initiative, culminating in the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill, 2020.
This Bill seeks to comprehensively address our perennial challenges, particularly those arising from political transitions, negative ethnicity, lack of inclusion, inequitable development and our fight against corruption...promoting a cohesive Kenyan society is a cardinal focus of my administration,” the President said.
The President spoke yesterday at State House, Nairobi when he presented Kenya’s second country review report to the 30th summit of the African Peer Review Forum (APRF) of Heads of State and Government held virtually.
At the meeting chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, is his capacity as the current chairperson of APRF, President Uhuru affirmed Kenya’s commitment to the APRM process saying it promotes accountability.
“The APRM governance principles require us to be accountable to ourselves, to each other as member states, and to our respective citizens.
It is for these reasons that I rise to highlight the progress Kenya has made in implementing commitments made during the peer review session of January 2017,” the President said, adding Kenya was the first country to sign up for the second country review.
Political governance
The Head of State presented Kenya’s scorecard on APRM’s four thematic areas of democracy and politics, corporate governance, socio-economic progress, and economic and management segments.
Alongside BBI, President Uhuru underscored the renewed fight against corruption through the multi-agency approach and the work being done by both the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights as advancements in the country’s democracy and political governance.
On national security, the President said Kenya had restructured its national government coordination framework, creating more administrative units, and strengthening police reforms, including reorganising the National Police Service and establishing a National Crime Research Centre.
“To institutionalise good governance and capacity building for county governments, the Kenya Devolution Support Programme was established.
This inter-governmental forum seeks to foster transparency, accountability and enhance human resource management,” the President told his African counterparts.s
The President also spoke about the increased participation of women, marginalised and vulnerable groups in governance, saying his administration continues to “implement and publicise affirmative action programmes empowering youth, women and people with disability”.
On corporate governance, the President said Kenya had enacted standards for businesses under the County Governments Act and strengthened the financial sector to ensure investors are supported with affordable credit.
“To enhance ease of doing business, my administration introduced a new Companies Act, including new insolvency and business registration services laws.
In addition, the Huduma Kenya Secretariat rolled out credit reference bureau services in selected centres,” he said.
Reporting on the socio-economic development pillar, the President said his administration recognises the centrality of the health sector in economic development and the achievement of fundamental human rights.
“We invested USD 40 million in four (4) pilot counties; focused on community and primary healthcare services, strengthened health systems including basic and specialized medical services.
