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{
    "id": 1358654,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1358654/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 56,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "His Excellency the President",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 168,
        "legal_name": "Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta",
        "slug": "uhuru-kenyatta"
    },
    "content": "On 13th September 2022, last year, when I took office, I undertook to ensure the urgent transformation of our economy and to stop and reverse the negative trends of runaway unemployment, yawning inequality and widespread poverty which have denied Kenyans their dignity and extinguished their dreams. The mass appeal of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda was due, in a large part, to the fact that its development and articulation, as well as its content and implementation strategy represented our national values in action. It was inclusive, democratic, committed to social justice and the protection of the marginalised. Our commitment to bring the national values and principles of governance to life in order to significantly enhance the well-being of every individual and promote the unity, stability, security and development of our country began long before the last election and will endure well beyond our term. It has been my manifest intention to live up to all the commitments set out in the plan. Despite enormous challenges and tremendous difficulties, we have made encouraging progress in a positive direction. This has not only vindicated our philosophy of inclusive transformation in the pursuit of shared prosperity, but it has also increased our confidence that we are on the right path and shall, in due course, deliver the transformation of our nation in full. It is important for us to point out that we began the implementation of our mandate to transform Kenya's economy from the bottom-up under extremely difficult circumstances, not to excuse failure or justify inability or omission to do the necessary work. Not at all. Rather, we do it to emphasise the significance of our progress, underscore the possibility of transformation under daunting conditions and express well-founded confidence that when sufficient progress is made, we shall do much more and go much farther in delivering the ‘Kenya We Want’ for our generation and for posterity. In our plan, we identified three primary challenges; external shocks, fiscal distress, and structural imbalances that heavily strained our economy, causing nationwide difficulty. The COVID-19 Pandemic, coupled with global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical conflicts, significantly raised inflation and interest rates, adversely affecting our economy, while low agricultural investment and a prolonged drought led to food shortages and made Kenya a net food importer in a volatile international market. It was under conditions of such extreme difficulty that the people of Kenya entrusted us with the responsibility of simultaneously generating effective solutions to immediate problems, providing a credible pathway to stability in the medium-term, and undertaking long- term structural transformation of our economy in a manner that paid attention to the needs and aspirations of Kenyans especially those at the bottom of the pyramid The transformation of our economy is not only desirable and important, but it is also necessary and urgent, and the people of Kenya have made this clear at every opportunity. Our duty as leaders is to listen keenly and comply with the people's wishes. Kenyans want to proceed in a new direction and demand a new conversation that puts ordinary Kenyans; the"
}