part of the globe . As much as ministerial positions are top leadership roles that purely drive policy direction , it makes a huge difference when you have Cabinet Secretaries who are grounded professionals with track records in the various fields they are assigned to lead .
Secondly , “ Lee was a staunch promoter of economic globalization and a vocal opponent of protectionism . He said that Singapore ’ s only natural resources are its people and their strong work ethic .” In the Kenyan context we are blessed as over and above all the other resources our country is endowed with the greatest asset of all time in the name of the people of Kenya who by nature are resilient and very hard-working .
However certain underlying vices cockblock us from fully reaping the rightful fruits of our sweat and hard labor . We love short cuts ! This has resulted in corruption in every form and shape . The get-richquick mentality has consigned many into tenderpreneurs fixated on pushing paper and air to make a living at great expense to the posterity of the country . Buildings collapse because someone accepted a bribe or did not do due diligence when supervising or having oversight over construction . I don ’ t know when we will learn this lesson but this vice known as corruption must be weeded out and we know this formed a huge part of the success of Singapore .
Thirdly , “ In addition , Lee was focused on social policies such as improving and mandating higher public standards for education , sanitation and hygiene , whilst concurrently improving public health by expanding modern health care and greatly increasing the quantity and quality of high-rise affordable housing ( through the establishment of the Housing and Development Board , HDB ) for workingand middle-class families .”
This sounds like part of the Big-4 agenda , which fortunately our new president was a part of . I love the words higher standards and as you can see that the social pillars are right in there . I have no problem with whichever education system we chose as I hear there may be a referendum to determine the fate of CBC . The crux of the matter is in the implementation . At the beginning 8-4-4 was very much tailored like CBC , however after years of poor implementation it unfortunately metamorphosized to what it is today . I wish to acknowledge Dr . Fred Matiangi and Prof . George Magoha for all the effort and investment they put in to weed out cheating and exam malpractice .
No matter what anyone says , health is expensive . To achieve high standards calls for massive deliberate continuous investment . The workforce is highly skilled as can be seen by how popular they have become across the globe .
Great efforts must be made to avoid the brain drain . Please note at present that nurses are leaving in droves and are headed to Texas . On the other hand , this is probably the only country in the world where newly graduated doctors can say they are unemployed . Do we honestly expect them to hang around when there are endless opportunities with much better working conditions becking to them out there ?
I took the recent headline article in Daily Nation on how doctors earn hefty salaries without working with a pinch of salt . Like any other profession , you can ’ t miss a few rotten apples . It is however the height of naivety to lump all doctors in one pool and unleash blanket condemnation on them . The author comes off as highly misinformed on the role of specialist doctors , as a good number of specialists are not minimalists and they do over and above what is required of them . It would have been prudent to follow such specialists so as to craft a more balanced and objective opinion , but I guess we can only sell newspapers by latching on sensationalism .
A Health Services Commission may assist with issues related to employment , posting and retention of medical personnel , but in the event that this is not feasible an audit must be done and standards set for health workforce to ensure the right number of required professionals are in the various facilities country-wide in order for certain hospitals to maintain their rating e . g . level 4 .
Most things in the social pillar do not generate a lot of money especially if services are provided for free . This is very noble of any government that wants to ensure access to health and education . However , to reap the dividends one must seriously invest in these sectors . No lip services . With that I encourage the government to implement the Abuja declaration and invest 15 % of GDP in health . I ’ m not sure how much is needed for education but if the right financial investment is not made we will forever lag behind . There was a time when our graduates were the cream of the crop but now your guess as good as mine .
There has been a protracted freeze on hiring of new lecturers across all the public universities with continuous increase in the number of students and number of courses offered . In the meantime the number of lecturers has actually decreased as those leaving in whichever manner have not been replaced . This has resulted in burn-out of teaching staff and dilution of the quality of education . The new government should critically look at this as both education and health are paramount for the development of the nation and show promise for tourism .
Fourth and finally , “ Lee introduced measures to jumpstart manufacturing of finished goods for export ( export-oriented industrialization ) and sought to create a conducive business environment in the trading nation to attract foreign direct investment .” I hope most of you have seen the clip of the Zambian Doctor , who wants to make farming sexy to attract the youth to agriculture . I think she had novel ideas that are worth while exploring . The most important thing I note was the cost of capital . It is common knowledge that majority of investors will borrow money to finance the investment . What is true is that we on the African continent cannot compete due to the high cost of borrowing . How does someone paying 14-40 % interest compete with someone paying 2-5 %. I ’ m not a finance person but I don ’ t need to be one to understand this . We are quite simply killing local investment .
Arguably the greatest country on earth according to themselves is the United States of America . What everyone should note is their biggest investors , tourists , farmers , industries are all local . They only outsource things that require cheap labor . Let us see how to jumpstart local investment in the country by enabling our own population to be our biggest investors , tourists etc . We are unanimously very proud of our athletes , let us strive to have the same feeling in all other areas . It can be done . People like Dr . James Mwangi of Equity have demonstrated this .
I ’ d like to end at a tangent by wishing the new Monarch King Charles III , the royal family and the British people sincere condolences on the death of the Queen . As a Luopean I greatly related to all the traditions followed during the mourning period and burial service and as an Anglican was saddened by the loss . May she rest in eternal peace as God blesses our two Nations .
Dr . Maureen Owiti is a practicing Obstetrician Gynaecologist and fertility consultant based in Nairobi . You can commune with her on this or related matters via email at : Drmaureenowiti @ gmail . com .