KENYA: With 100 days into the term of the Jubilee Government, it has been mixed fortunes as President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto’s administration shapes up.
The new regime has faced several crises including the crippling teachers’ strike that prompted authorities to close down public schools on the eve of 100 days in office on Thursday.
Barely a month after they ascended to power, the Jubilee regime was jolted by a wave of killings in Western Kenya and recently the violence in northern Kenya.
These challenges have tested the new leadership, especially coming at a time Uhuru and Ruto were busy cobbling their government and ensuring they deliver their 100-day pledges. Uhuru and Ruto have projected a new style of governance that radiates freshness, like interviewing of Cabinet nominees and introducing each one of them to public.
Disputed allowances
As a sign of getting down to work, Uhuru and Ruto mesmerised many with their leaving out blazers in their matching dress code of red ties, white shirts with rolled up sleeves.
President Uhuru had undertook his regime would deliver six pledges within 100 days in office, including abolishing maternity fees in public facilities, a directive that has since been implemented.
Cabinet early this month also approved the implementation of the laptop computer project in primary schools, another signature initiative for the Jubilee regime.
The programme was initially targeted by striking teachers, but Uhuru and Ruto flatly rejected demands that funds allocated for the project be diverted to pay disputed allowances.
The ruling coalition had to flex its muscle in Parliament to defeat an Opposition-driven amendment to the Appropriations Bill that sought to deny funding to the project.
But the greatest toast for the Jubilee regime has been the surge in numbers in maternity wings of public hospitals after the waiver of fees. However experts warn the Government should address staffing and equipment challenges for the success of the initiative. Evans Nasebe, the head of the Health Chapter of the powerful Kenya Union of Civil Servants, said for the free maternal healthcare to succeed, the Government should motivate nurses. He pressed for the implementation of the raft of allowances the Government agreed to pay last year.
These include night duty (Sh30,000 per month), high-risk (Sh15,000 per month), non-practising (Sh15,000 per month) and uniform (Sh20,000 per year). “It is not enough that expectant mothers are going to public facilities to give birth, but we should ensure they are getting safe and quality services. At present many mothers are still at high risk due to shortage of staff and critical equipment,” said Nasebe.
CDF framework
Nasebe said mothers are discharged within 24 hours of delivery to make room for the huge number of expectant mothers seeking services.
Authorities have committed to develop a framework to direct the Sh6 billion previously allocated for the election run-off that Jubilee leaders committed to channel towards establishing a new Youth and Women Fund. “The youth and women should use the fund’s low interest loans to start or expand income generating projects,” Uhuru said at a past event.
“The fund will be disbursed directly to beneficiaries through the Constituency Development Fund framework, under the administration of committees that have been established at each constituency,” Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru said in a statement early this week.
Additionally the President had also pledged that within 100 days women and the youth in the grassroots would enjoy interest free loans.
Nyeri County women representative Priscilla Nyokabi said citizens need to be informed that the funds are aloan that is payable in the stipulated time. “People assume that Government money is free money. They seem to forget that this is a revolving fund,” Nyokabi said.
Homa Bay’s Gladys Wanga said the Government should enlighten borrowers on the need to pay back the funds so that it can benefit as many people. Despite the strides, appointments by the Jubilee Government in the 100 days in office have been censured with lobbyists saying women and youth have been given a raw deal. The latest appointments to draw condemnation were the six members to the new Presidential Strategic Communications Unit named by President Uhuru last week.
The Gender and Equality Commission protested the all-male team and pressed for the reconstitution of the team to include at least one woman.
Source-standardmedia.co.ke
Jubilee Government’s Pledges and Missed Targets After 100 Days
Jubilee Government’s Pledges and Missed Targets After 100 Days
