This archive report was first published on 14 January 2020.
As a career civil servant, I may be ill-positioned to claim credentials in rural sociology and agro-economics, but the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) demands attention from all sectors of society.
Launched to make Kenya the choice place to invest, live, work, and raise families, the BBI report highlights the country's downward drift into sustained poverty, misery, instability, and conflict.
With hundreds of Kenyans, aged 35 and above, holding advanced degrees but struggling to secure decent earnings, the sense of urgency is palpable.
Politically, the BBI is a revolutionary decision, one that requires courage from leaders to stay the course. President Uhuru Kenyatta's resolve is a testament to this.
While the initial report adopted an explanatory tone, avoiding harsh prescriptions, there are areas that demand a bold approach. Consolidation of agricultural land, animal husbandry, and the environment are crucial.
Corruption, internal security, and law enforcement have made progress, but land consolidation and livestock development require attention.
As a nation, we can harness the dividend of devolution and mitigate rural-urban migration by revitalizing agriculture. However, our land tenure system only multiplies poverty.
Take Maara constituency in Tharaka-Nithi County, where I grew up, as an example. The area's agricultural potential is enormous, but land fragmentation has rendered it agriculturally useless.
Consolidating banana farming in Kisii County into 100-acre farms or reviving sugar farming in western Kenya as an economically competitive industry is impossible with the current land tenure system.
Modern farming is about technology-driven agriculture, value addition, and creating economies of scale on farm inputs and marketing. We need to communicate to our pastoralist brethren that escorting cattle for miles is neither an economic activity nor a tradition.
It's time to start figuring out what the economy of Marsabit or Kajiado would look like if county governments invested in a million acres of farm-grown hay.
Let's change the narrative from herd sizes to tonnes of beef exports. Owning a title deed conferring an acre of agricultural land does not hold any promise for you and your children.
The BBI presents an opportunity to do it.
