President uhuru kenyatta (left) and his deputy william ruto. FILE PHOTO | NMG
What you need to know:
An insightful African proverb admonishes: “A man does not wander far from where his corn is roasting, meaning Kenya cannot neglect a strategic thrust area in accelerating the Big Four.
The centrepiece of this accelerated paradigm is maximising productivity of Africa’s catalytic sectors — which Kenya also shares in plenty— as the thrust engine for implementing the Big Four.
Simply, these are sectors in which Kenya, as the rest of the region, holds a comparative advantage in resources.
Having rain clouds is not the same as having rain”: One cannot help but marvel at the insightfulness of African proverbs. Like this one, it reminds us one fundamental and very relatable truth – potential remains valueless unless harnessed. Kenya’s Big Four priorities are highly potent and ambitious and provide an opportunity for Africa to drive transformational change through the engine sectors. The Big Four as fondly referred to focuses on food security, manufacturing, health and housing. They are akin to pillars of the Kenya we aspire to— middle income industrialised nation with a climate resilient, inclusive economy offering a high quality of life for its people.
But just as “aiming isn’t hitting”, achieving this grandeur ambition in the set five years will take more than its fluent articulation. This is especially so considering the low base from which Kenya as much as many other African countries are starting from. I am talking of food insecurity, where despite the eloquence of Article 43 (1) (c) of the Constitution - which guarantees to every Kenyan the right to food, the number of food insecure persons is projected to increase by half a million in 2018 and postharvest losses (PHLs) top $500 million each year; a loss of not only food but manufacturing enterprise and job opportunities.
I am talking of climate change, the elephant in the room, costing Kenya up to $0.5 billion each year to hamstring long-term growth and projected to escalate to an annual loss of 2.6 per cent of GDP by 2030 to further constrict the entire economy. This low base is our resounding call to action, to do things differently.
An insightful African proverb admonishes: “A man does not wander far from where his corn is roasting, meaning Kenya cannot neglect a strategic thrust area in accelerating the Big Four. The centrepiece of this accelerated paradigm is maximising productivity of Africa’s catalytic sectors — which Kenya also shares in plenty— as the thrust engine for implementing the Big Four. Simply, these are sectors in which Kenya, as the rest of the region, holds a comparative advantage in resources.
They are economically inclusive and accessible to create income for most of the people. And they can create these socioeconomic opportunities simultaneously while ensuring climate resilience. Accordingly, sustainable, nature-based agriculture and clean energy stand out. To maximise productivity, the approach is to amalgamate developments in these sectors – as opposed to developing them in sectorial silos as classically done; hence generate synergy for bigger outcomes.
This foundation has been endorsed at highest policy levels in the continent – the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the AU Agenda 2063 as well as up to 80 per cent of continental commitments, including Kenya’s to the Paris Climate Agreement – officially referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This area also offers empirical proof to its potency. In Makueni County, application of minimum tillage, a nature-based ecological farming, on a one-half acre plot increased yields by over 300 per cent, with additional benefits of reduced labour and improved soil fertility.
This already aligns to actualising one of the Big Four – food security. On amalgamation, in Ijara sub-county, processing enterprises targeting the aloe plant, an indigenous drought-resistant crop, is not only restoring degraded lands to ensure climate adaptation in line with the Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), but resulting in viable enterprises, recording a Net Present Value of over Sh4 million – equivalent to $4,000.
This is a formidable step in decentralising manufacturing to create enterprises at community level, and empower local communities to afford a better quality of life - to finance not only their food security, but health and housing with the Big Four actualised at once. Scaling this paradigm will convert the current $500 million in annual PHLs into agro-manufacturing jobs, incomes and economic expansion to drive affluence and enable Kenyans to afford better healthcare and housing. This is the catalyst, which needs additional policy andoperational innovations to scale-up.
Financial Innovation
“If ten cents does not go out, it does not bring in one thousand dollars”. This common saying in Ghana sums up the principle behind risk sharing facilities that Kenya should urgently embrace to finance the Big Four – the multiplier effect. Where financing is not a social expenditure in “flagship” government-run projects, but an incentive for enterprises based on the core thrust of sustainable, clean energy powered agro-industrialisation.
This ensures returns are not only social, but economic, financial and environmental. The vibrant Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) sector in Kenya, that forms 90 per cent of the country’s private sector and employs a majority of Kenya’s skilled labour provides a fertile ground to establish and grow this enterprise-driven paradigm to implementing the Big Four.
The government can focus on incentivising co-operatives and micro-finance institutions to lend affordably to enterprises aligned to the catalytic sectors – rather than directly financing projects. The structure for such a move is already taking shape at community level.
