"I give this speech on the State of the Nation in the midst of extraordinary global economic, social and health disturbances, which have not spared us. These disturbances have made it necessary to reschedule this speech for about six months".
Thus on Wednesday 11 November, the President of the Republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, opened his annual State of the Nation speech in Parliament.
A speech that could not ignore the unfinished pandemic emergency ("We must not "go back" from our vigilant fight against this pandemic. For our part, as leaders, our resistance and discipline must not diminish. If the people do not give their best at this time, we leaders have no choice but to give our best") and who recalled the economic measures that have helped companies and investors (cutting the V.A.T. by two points, exemptions for small businesses, licence reductions and lowering Central Bank rates to allow banks to calm mortgages and restore confidence to savers). At the same time Kenyatta dwelt on ongoing projects, which the Covid-19 has only slowed down: from the Nairobi metropolitan railway in Nairobi to the Likoni mobile bridge in Mombasa, from the relaunch of Kenya Airways .
Another sore point is the education that the eight months of inactivity have undermined, both in the learning of young people and in the obvious inadequacy of many structures. There is the promise of funding for the education sector and the construction of new classrooms and institutes.
However, there is confirmation that the next school year will start in January because "no one can be left behind, education is the fundamental way to achieve the project to eliminate the poverty of dignity, distrust, pessimism and fatalism of the new generations".
Returning to COVID-19 (yesterday still 23 official deaths, with 14.9% positive cases per swab) Kenyatta said: "The COVID-19 pandemic started against the background of a steady economic growth rate of 5.4% in 2019 We are not out of the woods yet, so I urge all Kenyans to continue to do what is honorable and right. As a nation, we will surpass and then rise even higher. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the urgent need to improve the implementation of the universal health cover pillar".
Access to healthcare for all disadvantaged groups is one of the Government's priorities and is part of the so-called "Big Four Agenda", which provides for 2022 a mutual health service for the whole population. Kenyatta's aim is "to bring our nation into an age when no Kenyan should be forced to sell his land to pay for medical expenses; or be forced to choose between buying much-needed medicines and using the money to feed his children".
In a speech- river, the President also touched on the issues of national security and terrorism, which, despite having found its difficulties during the pandemic, has not lowered its guard, even though in the meantime the nation has improved its instruments of attention and defence.
Finally, politics: great emphasis was placed on the initiatives undertaken with former Opposition leader Raila Odinga and their "Building Bridges" project to eliminate two of the country's cancers, tribalism and corruption.
"We want a Kenya where no one will be able to rise to the top for belonging to a tribe and where no capable citizen will have to unravel in poverty because of bad governance".