1. M P’s salaries
M P’s pay will be reduced from the current 0.8 million a month to a maximum of Ksh 400,000 which will be subject to taxation.
2. Lean Cabinet
Unlike the current cabinet which is the largest since independence and has 42 ministers, 52 assistant ministers – total 94, a PEDA government will have a maximum of 18 ministries with the total number of ministers and assistants being 36. The ministries will be as follows;
1. Attorney general
2. Planning & finance
3. Education & cultural affairs
4. Water, Environment & natural resources
5. Local government
6. Agriculture, livestock & fisheries
7. Co-operatives, trade & industry
8. Tourism & wildlife
9. Labour & human resource development
10. Health
11. Roads & Public works
12. Energy
13. Lands & housing
14. Defence, Internal security & provincial administration
15. Transport & I C T (Information & Communication Technology)
16. Home affairs
17. Sports
18. Foreign affairs
3. Military & Internal security
A typical Kenyan is more at risk from internal risks (thugs, tribal clashes & terrorism) than from external aggression by a foreign country. We have not fought a serious war since independence (not that we want to) and there is little likelihood of that happening in the near future. It does not make economic to continue maintaining a heavily staffed, salaried and equipped military. Current budgetary allocations to the military is higher than what is given to the police yet the police do more work and their services are more critical to uplifting our economy.
A PEDA government will enhance internal security by allocating more funds to the police for staff and equipment than the military. To cut costs and utilize resources to the maximum, all new recruits will undergo military and police training. Upon graduation, they will serve as police officers and some will revert to the military in the event that Kenya is involved in war. This will serve a dual purpose of increasing the number of policemen who are able to multi-task.
On a volunteer basis, already serving military men willing to work in the police force will also be retrained and assimilated in the police force.
4. Kenya’s true history
We will revise our history books to reflect historical injustices and human rights abuses currently omitted from books used in primary and secondary schools. Also the gallant roles played by advocates of multi party and the enormous personal sacrifice they had to pay to ensure a more democratic society is not mentioned. Since truth is not taught, perpetrators of past human rights abuse have no shame advancing themselves as democrats and defenders of the oppressed.
5. Transparency and accountability
All public servants will declare their wealth and this information will be accessible to the public. A freedom of information act will be passed to ensure the public have access to all government information. This will limit corruption. An independent staff audit for the entire civil service will be done to weed out unqualified personnel who may have been employed through corruption, tribalism or nepotism.
6. Science & Technology
Scientific innovations resulting in products that have a global demand have led to rapid developments in countries like U S A, Germany, Japan, India, Korea etc. In Kenya, we have talented individuals who are capable of coming up with new inventions but what has been lacking is funding for research and development. This is evident in the annual secondary school’s science congress and scientific exhibitions in our colleges and universities. A PEDA government will set up a 1 billion research and development fund. Annual science fairs open to all will be held and the top 100 inventions with a likely hood of producing usable products and in the process create employment, will receive a grant of Ksh 10 million each. Inventors will be assisted to solicit additional funds from investors and banks.
7. Film Development Fund
The film industry has the potential to create many employment opportunities as the necessary talent is available. A film development fund worth Ksh 50 million will be set up. After a transparent selection process, 10 writers/directors will each be given a grant of Ksh 5 million to enable them produce low budget films.
8. Home ownership/slums eradication
Concentration of resources in major towns has led to rural urban migration leading to growth of slums. The government’s slum upgrading program is not sustainable since it does not address the main factor of slum growth which is lack of jobs or low paying jobs. Infrastructure development (piped water, electricity and roads) in local authorities countrywide would have the twin effect of creating employment opportunities in rural areas thus reversing rural urban migration, provide serviced land which will encourage building of houses, reduce population density in major towns in the process bringing down cost of land and opening former slum areas, sparsely populated estates as found in Eastlands for development of high rise flats. Introduction of high speed trains (most travel at 250 Kph, the highest recorded being 400 Kph) initially to outlying towns like Naivasha, Gilgil, Tala, Ruiru, Thika, Kiambu, Kiserian Ngong, etc and to the rest of the country eventually will ensure that Nairobi is at most two hours away from all town in the process encouraging settlement in areas where land is cheaper thus decongesting Nairobi and other major towns. Majority of middle class Kenyans can afford the actual construction costs or access funds for building homes. What hinders them is scarcity of serviced land. This policy would create massive mass employment in the construction industry from which low-income workers will be able to afford decent houses through long term mortgage transferable to their children, eradicating slums in the process.
9. Higher education.
University education is turning out to be a preserve of the rich as every year, the cut off points for competitive courses like Medicine, pharmacy, law, engineering etc. are raised to limit those qualified. Space is then created for parallel students who have the ability to pay higher fees than regular students. This has given rise to cases where parallel students with grades like C+ can study medicine while regular students with grades as high as A- are locked out allegedly due to lack of space to accommodate them.
A recent media report highlighted a case where a senior lecturer in the university of Nairobi intervened for his daughter to pursue medicine in the regular program even though she missed out on the cut off points PEDA has no problem with parallel students with ability to pay the high fees for the courses they desire but our government should ensure that all students who sit for KCSE will get loans from HELB to pursue their desired careers not only in universities but also colleges. Adequate funding will be availed to universities (including construction of new ones) to increase their capacity to admit all students who score C+ and above to pursue the courses they desire and have qualified for.
