President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, has urged African governments to put their citizens at the centre of delivering service during Africa Delivery Exchange 2020, a virtual event that opened Tuesday.
In remarks to open the two-day workshop, Kenyatta noted that on a continent of around 1.3bn Africans with a median age of around 20 years, there was a tangible underlying sense of urgency when it comes to expectations of government.
“Our people know and understand what development ought to look like and what benefits it should bring to their social-economic wellbeing. Therefore, any failure to quickly address the missing middle within the development paradigm could create a deficiency of trust between the electorate and those in positions of leadership,” Kenyatta said.
The event was jointly hosted by Kenya President’s Delivery Unit, the African Development Bank, and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Kenyatta recognised the bank and the TBI’s support in advancing Kenya’s development, thanking AfDB’s President, Akinwumi Adesina, and the former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who joined him on a panel.
He said, “Without the lessons from TBI, we would have had to reinvent the wheel, but instead, we started with a tried and tested model, and we have improved on it to reflect our unique circumstances here in Kenya.”
In his remarks, Blair observed that leadership demands had changed and that governments were expected to do far more than they ever were traditionally.
Adesina commended Kenyatta for focusing on ordinary citizens and praised the Kenyan government’s ‘Big Four’ agenda, which prioritises food security, affordable housing, manufacturing, and affordable healthcare for all, and noting a fifth area in which the country had made great strides.
“Mr. President, you’re doing exceptional work on energy. You’re connecting your people all over the country in an amazing way with last-mile delivery. If you add in energy, you’d actually have a big five,” noted Adesina.
