The Deputy President, HE William Samoei Ruto earlier today commended the impacts of the current Kenya Constitution through its implementation.
The DP was speaking at Chatham House, where he had been invited to address a forum chaired by the Assistant Secretary General of Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Nabeel Goheer
Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a world-leading policy institute based in London where their mission is to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world.
In his speech, the DP highlighted key achievements that he directly attributes to gradual implementation of the constitution.
For instance, he compared the election of women to gubernatorial and senatorial positions in 2017 where Kenya got 3 women elected to be governors and 3 women elected to senators unlike in 2013 where all the 47 counties were governed by men and the senate had only nominated women senators.
HE William Ruto emphasized on the impact of devolution in enabling efficient service delivery to the grassroot level as each county focuses on the need of its electorate.
The DP observed that the health sector has been the major beneficiary of devolution as over 4,000 doctors have been hired, over 6,000 nurses have been inherited and over 50,000 community workers by the counties in the first five years.
He recognized the major health sector breakthroughs in the counties where the first Caesarian Section was done in Mandera County in 2014, Open-Heart Surgery in Mombasa County in 2015 and the recent Brain Surgery in Embu County in 2018 terming it possible due to Devolution.
In his remarks, the Deputy President explained the effect of the constitution on the roles of the three arms of government where he clearly pointed that they every arm is free from the other in executing its roles.
He however expressed his contrary opinion that Cabinet Secretaries should be ex-officio members of the parliament, attend at least one sitting in Parliament every week and have the floor to answer questions when they are required to.
He further articulated his concern on the position of the Senate terming it to be hanging in somewhere and recommended for it to be made (in his words) ‘an upper house’.
Given that the DP recently graduated with his Doctoral recently, the requirement by the constitution to have educated leaders did not escape his mind as he shared how Professionals from various educational backgrounds were the MCA Aspirants in 2017 as compared to 2013.
Dr. Ruto could not finish his speech without recognizing the role of the Jubilee government in development besides the gradual constitution implementation.
He went ahead to celebrate the milestones achieved by the current regime which he deputises HE President Uhuru Kenyatta where among many other achievements, he acknowledged that the government now has a Directorate that focuses on how to engage Kenyans in diaspora under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Elizabeth Kang’ethe, an elected Councilor in London, raised a concern on Diaspora inclusion by the Kenyan government by helping them realise their investment potential which is hindered by both governance and financial issues.
The DP was quick to admit failure on the governance end; however, he assured the diaspora community that the government is pursuing to make meaning of the diaspora investment potential.
Simon Muracia, Director Kenya ToU Ltd, was among the delegation meeting the DP in regards to diaspora investment inclusion by the government.
