The government has dismissed criticism by a section of Kenyans targeting President William Ruto’s ambitious vision of changing Kenya’s development trajectory to that of Singapore.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, on Thursday, December 18, insisted that Kenya's economic and infrastructure transformation is achievable regardless of the country's size.
While labelling the critics as 'pessimistic', Kindiki noted that Kenya was not only benchmarking on Singapore's transformation but also other developed Asian nations.
According to the Deputy President, Kenya's large size compared to that of Singapore should not be considered as a major deterrent in the development of the nation.
"Pessimistic comments about Singapore being a tiny 735 square kilometre city-state incomparable to Kenya should know that Kenya’s first-world ambition is modelled on a few more Asian countries besides Singapore," Kindiki said.
Kindiki pointed to China’s economic rise, noting that although the country is far bigger than Kenya, it still successfully engineered a dramatic economic transformation.
The DP emphasised that China's example should act as a good demonstration that size, history, or past challenges should not be used as excuses to limit Kenya’s ambitions.
"China, a 9.6 million square kilometre mega country of 1.5 billion people, compared to Kenya’s 582, 646 square kilometre area and 55 million people, is almost 17 times larger than Kenya," Kindiki argued.
"China’s turning point was 1978, just the other day. In 40 years, it moved from being a poor, isolated country to the first world. Kenya will transition to the first world in our lifetime," he added.
He reiterated that with the right policies and long-term planning, Kenya can achieve high-income status within the lifetime of the current generation.
Kindiki's response comes hours after Citizen TV journalist Linus Kaikai questioned Ruto’s frequent reference to Singapore as a development model for Kenya.
Speaking yesterday during a panel debate, the journalist argued that the Head of State's comparison ignored critical realities such as Singapore's size and history.
He noted that Singapore is a city-state with a land area so small it can be crossed in about 50 kilometres in diameter, roughly the distance from Nairobi to Thika.
"What else is troubling about the Singapore experience? Do we know how small Singapore is in terms of size compared to Kenya? Singapore is a city-state, a very small country that is 50 km in diameter, which is like Nairobi to Thika," Kaikai said.
Adding, "Singapore is nearly 800 times smaller than Kenya. There is a script as to how Singapore became what it is today. When you look at their script, some of it is about meritocracy."
