The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party manifesto has aspects from the Jubilee and National Super Alliance (NASA) manifestos released in 2017, indicating the impact of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s March 2018 handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga.
The manifesto shares a lot of similarities with the social contract that Odinga published in 2017 when he ran for president on the NASA ticket. It also contains components of President Kenyatta’s primary themes prioritized in his manifesto, which he launched at the Kasarani gymnasium as he ran for re-election in the 2017 State House election.
The economic agenda, social justice, rule of law, and anti-corruption battle are all important components of the Azimio platform, which is built on three pillars.
The Azimio paper also includes elements of the NASA manifesto, which was released in 2017 and included six components: nation building, state building, governance transformation, social and economic rights realization, job creation, poverty eradication, and regional and international cooperation.
President Kenyatta is a significant player in the succession struggle, and the Azimio La Umoja platform reflects some of his legacy ideas. Through the Big 4 program, which includes manufacturing, food security, universal health coverage, and affordable housing, the president and his administration promised to create 1.3 million employment yearly in 2017.
In terms of housing, Kenyatta’s administration set out in his second term to build 500,000 low-cost dwellings in five years, digitize all land registers, and assure a 100 percent transfer from primary to secondary education.
Another part of President Kenyatta’s 2017 platform that has made its it into the Azimio La Umoja document nearly 5 years later is the re-recognition and mainstreaming of the jua kali sector.
While the Jubilee document promised to increase the number of trained artisans, Odinga plans to implement a recognition of prior learning certification program in 2022 and award certificates to artisans, craftsmen, and technicians who learned their skills and knowledge through apprenticeship and work experience.
In 2017, the Jubilee and NASA manifestos both called for fighting corruption and ensuring wise administration of public resources. In 2022, the Azimio manifesto pledges zero tolerance for graft, double-digit economic growth, and lower living costs.
Manufacturing is one of the Big 4 agenda issues of the United States.
The Kenyatta manifesto in 2017 promised support for artists, as well as the construction of three major stadia in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Eldoret, as well as the upgrading of regional stadia in Kiambu, Makueni, Elgeyo Marakwet, Marsabit, Nyeri, and Chuka, which were touted as solutions to the country’s unemployment problem.
Odinga and Karua vowed in the Azimio manifesto to assist the creative industry, build sports and recreational facilities, and mainstream small and medium firms in the 2022 manifesto.
