This archive report was first published on 8 December 2019.
Published on December 8, 2019, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report has shed light on Kenya's leadership crisis, which is a major obstacle to the country's progress and development.
The report's findings are not new, as the Kenyan Constitution already addresses several issues that the BBI report recommends. For instance, the Constitution emphasizes the protection of citizens' health, safety, and economic interests, which is similar to the BBI report's recommendation to strengthen food and medicine safety institutions.
However, the issue lies not in the recommendations themselves, but in the leadership needed to implement them. Kenya has a history of ignoring its people, as evident in the case of substandard sanitary pads that caused massive side effects to women. The government's inaction and lack of accountability have exposed its citizens to poisonous commodities like aflatoxin maize.
The BBI report also suggests that public servants should use public services, as a way to ensure that they are of good quality. However, this is a challenging task, given the stubborn nature of public servants and their tendency to hinder the delivery of quality public services.
Furthermore, the report notes that Kenyans do not take responsibility for the affairs of their country, which is a misleading assumption. The state plays a significant role in creating an environment for thriving civic responsibility, but its excessive use of force has brutalized and murdered people for being responsible citizens.
The report's recommendations on ethnic antagonism and competition, as well as the need to ban public officers from doing business with the government, are also not new. The Constitution already alludes to these issues, but the leadership needed to implement them is lacking.
Ultimately, the BBI report will not fix what is genuinely ailing Kenya – leadership failure and the inability to enforce laws and implement reports.
