GOVERNMENT DOES NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO BUY EVERYTHING.
When we undertook the change of police uniforms, we deliberately chose a different approach.
We looked at the capacity that already existed within government and asked how we could use it better.
The National Youth Service, with its vocational and technical training capacity, was part of that approach. We also worked across public institutions and with the private sector to make use of existing skills, facilities and capabilities.
The result was a model that helped us manage costs, build local capacity and create opportunities for Kenyans.
The lesson was simple:
Government does not always have to buy everything. Sometimes government already has the capacity — it simply needs to coordinate it properly.
That is how we should think about public expenditure.
And as we discuss another change of police uniforms today, we should ask a bigger question:
Are we getting the greatest possible value from the resources available to us?
A uniform can change the appearance of a police officer.
But good governance must go further. It must strengthen institutions, build capacity and ensure that every shilling spent delivers value to the Kenyan people.
The test of leadership is not how much government spends.
It is what government achieves with what it spends.
That is how we build a Country That Works. #PamojaMbele
H.E Edwin Sifuna said housing is not Kenya’s biggest problem, the real problem is income. They called him “hana akili.”
Then Prof. Hiroyuki Hino, the Japanese economist invited to address UDA/ODM delegates at the Vision 2060 event at KICC, made essentially the same point: Kenya’s fundamental challenge is raising incomes and productivity.
Maybe Sifuna wasn’t the one who lacked understanding. Maybe we simply weren’t ready to hear the truth.
#Sifuna4President
#SifunaInHomabay
#Lindamwananchi