KEPSA CEO Ms Carole Kariuki on 23^rd February 2022 co-chaired the first National Stakeholders’ Forum (NSF) meeting with the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), National Treasury and Planning, Mr Eric Wafukho, who represented the Cabinet Secretary in the meeting held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi. Ms Kariuki was appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning to co-chair the NSF for the fourth Medium Term Plan (MTP 4) after the launch of the preparatory process on 2^nd February 2022 where she represented the private sector.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss and agree on the best approach to promote wide stakeholders’ participation during MTP 4 preparatory process. NSF provides a forum to obtain views of key stakeholders and consensus on the MTP 4 (2023-2027). The members of NSF will also be required to encourage their respective groups/institutions to participate in Medium Term Plans Sector Working Groups (MTPSWGs).

Present during the meeting included the Principal Secretary, State Department of Planning, Mr Saitoti Torome; Secretary, Economic Planning, State Department of Planning Ms Catherine Muoki; UN Resident Coordinator Mr Stephen Jackson; Representatives from Judiciary, Council of Governors, Youth, Women and Persons With Disabilities organisations among other stakeholders.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr Torome noted that the implementation of the MTP 3 will come to an end in June 2023 and therefore, it was important that MTP4 sets the momentum for the next long-term development for the country. He went on to say that State Department has developed the Concept Note to guide the development of MTP4, set up the NSF and the sector working groups. The MTP working groups are tasked to develop summarized versions of the various sectors’ priorities. 

In her remarks, the KEPSA CEO appreciated that KEPSA has been picked as the Co-Chair to represent the non-state actors in the process adding that the sector working groups have met and KEPSA has been represented in five of these meetings. She highlighted the importance of mapping the stakeholders. “We need to think about how to tackle unemployment. We need to focus on skilling and reskilling our demographic to ensure transformation,” She remarked. Ms Kariuki underscored the need to turn the country’s consumption into demand in other sectors of the economy while challenging participants to rethink how to transform Konza into a Smart City. She gave an example of the Dubai digital transformation where there is an employee efficiency program accessible to all partners and members are able to gauge the competition lags to increase competitiveness in the country.

While alluding to the recently launched County Regulatory Toolkit, Ms Kariuki noted that MTP 4 needs to tackle the issue of economics and politics. She said that businesses in the counties are revenue generators and the county governments need to work as partners to enable the businesses to flourish.

On his part, CAS Wafukho noted that the process will culminate in 2023- with the guidance of the concept note prepared. He added that the NSF will rally different stakeholders in providing input to the MTP 4 while saying that the preparatory process will be lengthy, involving and that will require commitments from all players. “As we gather here today, we are bonded by the principle of delivering as one and leaving no one behind, we will ensure all stakeholders work together. We will also ensure that our institutions align programs and projects to those of the MTP 4,” Added Mr Wafukho.

The CAS also noted that over the fourth MTP period, the government will envision to have more programmes and projects to be implemented through public-private partnerships than in the past. “We also look forward to stronger collaboration with all the development partners to ensure a coordinated approach to development,” He concluded.

The UN Resident Coordinator Mr Stephen Jackson expressed his satisfaction with the way the process is living up to the multi-stakeholder views as put in the Constitution adding that there was a need to focus on competitiveness, inclusion and resilience. He went on to underscore the need to think about future-proofing and socioeconomic resilience to cater for future shocks such as a pandemic. Mr Jackson noted that a multidimensional resilience plan will be important to consider in the MTP 4. He challenged the government to come up with a template to engage development partners.

The meeting agreed on the following;

• The National Treasury will continue engaging the NSF and updating on the progress.
• Members agreed to continue engaging at Sector Working Groups levels
• There is a need to develop a plan for engaging development partners.
• There is a need to rethink the National values and ethics
• The forum agreed on the need to invest in the youth to ensure their participation and inclusion in the process and think of the youth as a resource.
• There was also a need to onboard the persons living with disabilities