JUBILEE REACTS ON NASA'S MANIFESTO
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| NASA PRINCIPALS DURING THE LAUNCH OF THEIR MANIFESTO YESTERDAY -Photo courtesy D Nation |
The Jubilee Party has termed the National Super Alliance’s manifesto as a "borrowed extract" from its policy blueprint.
Nasa’s plan, Jubilee leaders told Daily News Updates on Wednesday, is not meant for implementation but just as a campaign tool.
Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi said the opposition principals hurriedly compiled the document to boost their vote chase.
“It
is a hurriedly compiled and borrowed extract from the Jubilee blueprint
with a few additions that are not intended for implementation but for
campaign window dressing,” he said.
Senate
Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki welcomed the manifesto but noted there
was nothing tangible or revolutionary in its content.
“I only saw a photocopy of what Jubilee
unveiled, especially in terms of what we offered to deliver on free
secondary education,” he said.
He
added: “There was nothing extraordinary in the whole thing. No timelines
and no key performance indicators to ensure that things happen or are
implemented as they should be.”
Prof Kindiki said Nasa's manifesto lacks a superior agenda that would have made the Raila Odinga-led outfit the better option.
He
specifically criticised the opposition for saying that it would open up
National Cereals and Produce Board centres to collect and store maize,
saying there is no maize to be collected.
Collection of maize, he also argued, is not the solution for food security.
He
held that the hunger problem was not well thought out as the solution
offered hardly addresses the root cause of maize shortage in the market.
“For
Jubilee, we have traced the problem from its root cause and given very
clear measures on how to tackle it along the value addition chain,” Prof
Kindiki said.
He further faulted the
Nasa manifesto, saying it did not extensively address the issue of
infrastructure and energy, which he said are critical in spurring the
manufacturing sector and eventual industrial take-off.
“The
manufacturing sector can only thrive as long as there are good roads,
railways, airports and proper supply of power,” he said.
“This are what creates conditions for industrial take-off.”
Kiharu MP Irungu Kang'ata said the manifesto failed to provide specifics on how it will achieve the pledges.
On
the opposition proposal that it will change the Constitution to allow
for the selection of ministers from among MPs, the Kiharu lawmaker said
that would go against the spirit of the 2010 law that sought to make
Cabinet secretaries technocrats.
“The
manifesto failed to address how it would tackle food shortage. It did
not mention irrigation, which is one known way of alleviating food
problems in the country,” Mr Kang’ata said.
Kikuyu
MP Kimani Ichung'wa did not have kind works for Nasa: “A document long
on empty rhetoric and short of any specific deliverables to the people
of Kenya.”
He added: “It has contradictory pronouncements that run counter to the Constitution.”
Kajiado North MP Joseph Manje said the opposition concentrated more on the country’s problems instead of the solutions.
“They kept on saying they would do this and that….but they failed to tell Kenyans how they would do it.”
Mr Manje said on issues of food security, education and security, the opposition heavily borrowed from the Jubilee manifesto.
“Jubilee
has been talking about free education and the deputy President
retaliated that on Monday. The opposition just repeated the same things
on free education,” Mr Manje.
The lawmaker also faulted the opposition for playing a video showing Kenya’s dark past.
“It
is not good to keep reminding people of the dark past but the focus
should be on the bright future that we are building,” he said.
