State of the nation address and the Vision 2030 progress report presentation shows Kenya is on the right track

Last week Friday’s presentation of the progress report made by the Kenya Vision 2030 board and this Tuesday’s state of the nation speech by the president were monumental days for the Nation. For the state of the nation address, it will be subjected to the debates by Parliament and it is on this line that we should be able to expand our capacities and capabilities to make Kenya a middle income rapidly industrializing by the year 2030. Parliament should discuss the speech with a view of developing more innovative ways of enhancing service delivery to the public, including by enacting laws and regulations that address the bottlenecks that we face a country. It is important that we institutionalize ways of measuring performance and making the necessary corrections that are necessary in order to pull many people out of poverty. Towards this goal, we need an effective system of monitoring and evaluation to be developed for the country. We need a harmonized and fit for purpose National Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, which introduces effective tools for project monitoring and evaluation, which enhances the quality of projects. Such a framework enhances the project planning and management such that we are able to track effective use of the resources – inputs, activities, outputs and also assess the effect of the external factors on such programmes. an effective Monitoring Framework will enable all stakeholders to measure and manage results.

Peter Drucker, a management expert opined that “what gets measured gets managed”, meaning that once we measure progress, we can manage areas of underperformance and vice versa. Projects are developed within an environment we call – Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL) matrixes. In other words, the successes we seek under Vision 2030 and other national development plans, including County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) are to be taken under a mix of factors and challenges. The stakeholders should look at these reports and ask whether they have offered the necessary support in the realization of the Kenyan dream or whether they have been impediments to such expected achievements. We should ensure that our development is balanced, sustainable and climate change resilient. The government can only continue to play an enabling role while all of us have a duty to develop Kenya