President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Speech on Madaraka Day

We gather to commemorate the day, fifty-three years ago, when Kenyans finally took control of their own government: the day we began to govern ourselves; the day we took responsibility for our social, economic and political destiny.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to be Kenyan for three reasons. First, after half a century of self-rule, we have shown our ability to renew and re-imagine our nationhood. We won our independence and became a centralized state; today we have constitutionally devolved the responsibilities of governance to 47 counties.

Our journey since that first Madaraka day has been one of growing political and administrative maturity. In embracing devolution, we set the stage for equitable access to resources and opportunity, brought government services closer to Kenyans, and reshaped our representative politics.

That’s why we are in Nakuru today. We are here because government is no longer a distant administration, based in Nairobi; rather, government is now part and parcel of this community, and every other like it across Kenya.

You and I have a second reason to stand tall as Kenyans. Our forefathers suffered greatly to free us from the colonial yoke. Loved ones were lost, and our freedom fighters endured the bitter pain of injustice. Still, they paid the price, and won our freedom for us. We are grateful for their commitment and sacrifice, and we are the proud inheritors of their heroism.

Our fathers won because of their unity, and that is why they vowed to fuse the aspirations of all our different communities into a single national purpose. They joined together in a national covenant that would bind them, and all who came after them. In making that covenant, they vowed to build a nation that would earn its place in the world: a nation in which poverty, disease and ignorance would have no home.

This nation would be founded in fairness, allowing every Kenyan the liberty to achieve their dreams. They also declared that all men would be equal under this covenant. With this exchange of promises, all of us became Kenya; and Kenya became all of us. The nationalist covenant agreed all those years ago still binds us together.

In 2007, we sorely tested this covenant. But when we realized our folly, we paused to reflect, we retraced our steps and found the path to peace by painstakingly negotiating and ultimately ratifying a new Constitution in 2010.

The scars of 2007 remind us of the shame of political competition without limits or wisdom. But our patriotism prevailed; and today, we take pride as a nation in showing ourselves and the world that we have brought good out of troubled times, and that we have learned to limit political conflict, so that it no longer threatens the self-government that our forefathers so painfully won.

Let me turn to the third reason why I am proud to be Kenyan. We Kenyans love our politics. Some are perplexed by this passion; I celebrate it, for it shows the love and care that Kenyans have for our country. But passion without control is a fire that can destroy the house we have so painstakingly built these last fifty years. It must be tempered with the moderation of wisdom. As your fourth President, I remind you that we shall have a fifth, a sixth, and even a tenth President. Leaders will come and go, but Kenya will remain.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The nationalist covenant of which I have spoken was negotiated and crafted by young people. Today, young Kenyans have the opportunity to emulate the achievements of the founding generation.

As your President, I believe in Kenya’s young people; you are my partners in remaking this nation. If men and women of your age could conceive and build Kenya, then we must be open to your energy and hope. That is why I am so passionate about investing in you–our founding fathers were in their twenties when they founded Kenya, you too can found a new Kenya in our lifetime.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is not said often enough, but it is true: this country is great because Kenyan women are great. We did not acquire self-rule in 1963 only because men fought; we acquired self-rule because Kenya’s women also stood. In the fight for our liberty, it was our founding mothers who supplied intelligence, who offered sanctuary, who nursed the wounded, and who fed the hungry fighters.

In the 53 years since, Kenya’s women have come to the aid of the nation: often, they have been the voices of reason, of compromise and of tolerance. My government will continue to honour the mothers of our independence, and indeed all the women of this country. I will do everything possible and practical to ensure that their entitlements in our Constitution are enshrined in law.

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Kenyans,

Let me speak to you about what our Government has achieved since you gave me the mandate to be your President. 900 days ago, when I took office, I promised that children in Standard One would learn using the latest digital technology. That promise has been fulfilled: by August this year, we will have over 600,000 pupils learning with tablets and laptops, with another 600,000 to follow by December. We’re not just giving them a device; we are opening a world of connection and innovation to the Kenyan child. In a few years, we will see an entire generation of Kenyans with the new skills they need to build a new Kenya.

In three short years, we have transferred more than a trillion shillings to the counties. That money has gone to the grassroots, bringing paved roads where there were none before; bringin