In a 64-page pullout on his 10-year legacy published in the Sunday Nation, the Head of State urges Kenyans to remain united and embrace sound leadership as a prerequisite for success.
“We must therefore carefully reflect on the leadership of this country as well as the management of our diversity as a nation,” says Kibaki.
The President also gives some words of advice on what the country must do to continue his legacy.
“To equip ourselves for the journey ahead, we must think smart and plan carefully. We must implement programmes as scheduled and we must also work very hard,” said President Kibaki, who will retire after the March 4, 2013 General Election.
President Kibaki says Kenyans must be ready to pay their taxes to fund the projects and zealously fight corruption so that taxes are used for projects and not the “indulgence of a few corrupt fellows”.
The pullout, titled Building a Working and Caring Nation; Mwai Kibaki and the Transformation of Kenya, carries some never-before seen photos of the President with his family and fellow politicians.
It also has a blow-by-blow account of President Kibaki’s achievements in the past 50 years he has been a leader. Great emphasis is, however, laid on the last 10 years he has served as President.
Top among these achievements is the introduction of free primary education in 2003 that doubled school enrolment from 800,000 in 2002 to the current 1.9 million.
Transition from primary to secondary education has also jumped from 43 pc in 2003 to 73 pc this year.
And of those who make it to high school, 74 pc complete their education compared to 46 pc in 2008. The number of national schools has also grown from 18 in 2002 to 78 this year.
In 2002, only 75,000 students were enrolled in universities compared to the current 252,554. Fifteen new universities have also been launched during his reign.
In the pull-out, the President also reveals that he was sent to school simply because he was of no use on his parents’ farm.
Through investing in agriculture, poverty levels have reduced from 56 pc to 45 pc, the report says. - Saturday Nation
