We should have a vision of Western Kenya’s future state

A prediction is what someone thinks will happen, made known, or generally, a statement made about the future. The word prophesy can also be taken to mean, predict or reveal something that will happen in the future. So, who in the Counties of the former Western Province can forecast how the region will look like? Yes, how its people will be like for those living 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now? It is in such predictions and forecast vision that we can build the future. Will more people still be living in rural areas than towns as is the case today or will the order be reversed with more people in towns than in rural areas?

Will there be large scale malnutrition, yes, the lack of a balanced diet for most people of all ages as is the case now or will people be well nourished? Will diseases and death be as rampant as is the case today or will diseases and death be rare and far apart? Will ignorance and illiteracy be the exception rather than the norm, the ordinary as is the case now or will they be in the minority unnoticeable? Will poverty be the currency, the fashion, the common denominator as is the case today or will poverty be a rare spectacle? So if we envision a different Western, then, 20, 30, 40 years hence what is it we are putting in place to achieve a different Western Kenya for its people? And who will put in perspective what initiatives are correct, and have worked elsewhere in the world and what initiatives are leading to nowhere?

The long view must remain an overarching part of how we deal with the present, otherwise, we may as a region be stagnant, mired in the same subsistence issues of today come ten, twenty years.

As our elected leaders are preoccupied with plundering, squandering and stealing the taxpayers’ resources and use the same to bribe the electorate to be re-elected, who will predict and direct the people to the prosperous future? Who will design better tools to rein in the stealing, parasitic politicians and install a dedicated team of people to oversee the limited resources and lead the people out of the morass of disease, ignorance and poverty? Who are the alternatives we are preparing to transform the region? What alternatives are we putting in place? Wheat have we learned from the last 55 years since independence?

What are our national public Universities-Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) and Kibabii-doing to give knowledgeable direction as to how the region ought to navigate into the future or are they maintaining the ivory tower, armchair position of universities of the past?