KENYA: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS


SHIFTING GEARS TO ENHANCE PARLIAMENTARY ENGAGEMENT


Kenya was one of the first signatories to the Millenium Declaration and has done much to strive towards the Millenium Development Goals, but lessons have been learned – including that parliamentarians must be involved in the development agenda right from the start.


Mr Justin Bundi became the Clerk, East African Legislative Assembly Arusha – Tanzania, in 2004. A position he held up to March 2009 when returned to Kenya National Assembly as Deputy Clerk. In October 2012 he was appointed the Clerk of Kenya National Assembly. He has wide experience in Public Administration and legislative Management. He is a member of the Society of Clerks-at-the Table, and the Institute of Directors. He is married with five children.


Rapid globalization,


advancement in information technology, and democracy buoyed by liberalized and open market economies have, over time, exposed developing countries to diverse development perspectives. The gains are, however, slowed down by the wide disparities in development levels between industrialized and developing countries. Emerging challenges posed by climate change have also held to ransom the gains of the past three decades. Various interventions including external aid assistance, debt relief and prescription of structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s and the 1990s did not bring the sustainability global development partners sought to achieve with many of the developing countries. In the year 2000, therefore, world leaders came together to sign


12 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One


can maintain focus and measure progress


Mr. Justin N. Bundi


the Millennium Declaration which gave birth to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, which are an internationally agreed development framework, were adopted to rally international and national support in dealing with development challenges. These goals, developing countries are guided towards the attainment of the eight goals by the 21 targets and 60 quantifiable indicators by which a country


Adoption of and the wide appeal of the Millennium Declaration constituted the greatest foundation of optimism for a better future to the world’s poorest and acknowledged the special needs for developing countries – especially in Africa for poverty suppression, consolidation of democracy and sustainable development through among others, the attainment of basic human desires of food security, maternal health, schooling, fight against diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnerships.


The MDGs gave


governments a common framework for structuring policies and practices to fight poverty and also brought clarity to the shared and individual roles and responsibilities of various actors. These helped


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