A government exists to serve the people that formed it and gave it the mandate to run the state’s affairs. In Kenya, the sad situation is that governments have acted as though they were doing the people favours by serving them. This situation has been propagated from colonial masters who created subsequent governments in their own images. Clearly, the colonial government was never in service for the interests of Kenyans and Kenyans who took over leadership wanted to keep the same system for personal interests.

We have seen a civil service that expects and demands to be induced by citizens in order to serve.

We have seen an executive (from the sub-chief to the president) that does not care what the opinion of the public is regarding the service being delivered.

We have seen a judicial system that delays and denies justice to citizens with no consequence.

We have seen a legislature that spends all its time politicking, scheming, quarrelling and forming milliard political parties at the expense of service to the electorate.

We firmly believe in commitment to serve the people. FORD-Asili wishes to create a complete paradigm shift in the leadership and governance of our great country. A FORD-Asili government will be committed to diligently serve, be transparent and accountable to the people: we are the servants. We aim to see a transformed citizenry, able and always willing to police their government; a population that has the capacity to jettison their government midstream if it fails to deliver. We will address the following issues in order to effect the paradigm shift:

Currently, Kenya has a top-down social infrastructure where those in positions of leadership or influence determine what is good for the community regardless of its value. This has created a situation where those at the grassroots always look upon those higher up to advise them on what to do even when the advice is not in line with the circumstances and situations. A good example is community development projects most of which are packaged at the seat of government and unpackaged to the grassroots. The communities view the projects as foreign and never take their ownership and subsequently collapse after they are handed over to the communities.

We aim to reverse the situation and establish a bottom-up social communication where the community initiates development activities based on the priority needs. We will also establish a system where communication between the citizens and their government will be cordial and interactive. It is now well known that faster socio-economic development is achieved when people have a sense of control over their own affairs. We will empower communities to trigger action in response to persistent local problems. We will also empower communities to assume significant responsibility for community assets such as public land, forests, libraries, community centres, public schools, waterways, environment, and recreational facilities among others.

FORD-Asili will enhance existing social services and deploy community development officers at the lowest service level.

Realizing and appreciating that the citizen is the centre of society and therefore the maker of state and government, the Party, as a peoples’ movement is committed to hounour all citizens and at all times to recognise role models and heroines/heroes.

There is great inequity in the distribution of resources in the country since Kenya was colonised in 1920. This has to be understood by every Kenyan because of its importance in our history. Only those close to the colonial master accessed formal education, got land and were exposed to other opportunities. By the time the freedom war ended in 1959, only those who worked for the white man, their collaborators and associates were entrusted to manage the land demarcation process. Worth of emphasis is that this group denied land to all those who were released from prison and detentions and the freedom fighters from forests. Those that took over government were widely created in the whiteman’s image.

Subsequent governments invested a lot in preparing the sons and daughters of those that worked for the white man, the chief, the clerk, the nurse and sometimes the cook and gardener. Then corruption permeated the society. Labour laws were made to favour the employer. Majority of employers did not and do not respect the exchange justice where just other than minimum wages are paid and where a family living wage is the norm.

Self-regulation has therefore failed to work in Kenya’s labour market. In order that discipline and dignity is enhanced all cases of corruption will be passionately pursued and punished regardless of the station of the perpetrators in society. Labour laws and policies will be reviewed to ensure social and exchange justice for all. We shall introduce a programme to educate the public on corruption and its impact on poverty escalation. We shall educate the citizens on their role in the national anticorruption programme and demand that justice is done.

The Party shall take affirmative action to address resource distribution inequity in regions of the country that have been perennially neglected.

For a country to be able to have a successful social reconstruction programme particularly because of its family, which is the principle cell of society, employers must pay decent salaries and wages to their workers. Majority employers live highly luxurious life while their workers languish in poverty. FORD-Asili shall ensure that employees receive honest pay for an honest day’s work. We will regulate salaries based on the cost of living.

Security is paramount for any nation to prosper. However, both internal and external insecurity are prevalent in our country. We live with the threat of external aggression while grappling with widespread inter-tribal conflicts and internal security threats. A major cause of internal insecurity in the country is the social instability created by extreme landlessness, pervasive corruption and high unemployment levels. We believe that addressing landlessness, unemployment and corruption will significantly reduce internal insecurity.

To address external insecurity, we will enhance our systems to be able to account for every citizen of Kenya and any bonafide visitor. We will train our security personnel in modern security techniques and employ ICT to improve efficiency and accuracy of our operations. We will collaborate with our neighbours and friendly governments to assist us in our security programme.

Ignorance is one of the fuels of corruption and promoters of underdevelopment. FORD-Asili believes information empowers citizens. We will put in place mechanisms for easy access to information for all citizens. We shall enact a law on freedom of information that will allow every body to access public information and laws.