YouSaid · the spoken record

Uhuru Kenyatta

lines on the record: 114
first: 2014-09-24
most recent: 2021-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Aware of the imperative to carry along all our people in development, my Government launched targeted interventions for the most vulnerable in society. Those include a number of financial initiatives and training programmes for women and youth. We have also prioritized the advancement of children’s rights and welfare through initiatives that reduce mortality and morbidity. Chief among them are universal immunization coverage, the promotion of breast-feeding for the first six months of a child’s life, the provision of fortified foods and insecticide-treated mosquito nets, as well as free care for mothers and children in all government hospitals. In that respect, I wish to commend the first Lady of Kenya, Ms.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We in Kenya believe that no nation is too poor or too rich, too big or too small to play its rightful role in making the world a better place for all. At the national level, Kenya grounds her transformative agenda on a strategic vision — our Vision 2030. Importantly, in 2010 we adopted a new democratic Constitution, which expanded and guaranteed a wider range of rights for our people and defined new institutions for the advancement of those rights. Drawing on that, we have re-engineered our system of governance, making it more democratic, inclusive, devolved and responsive. We have also significantly expanded participation in political and development decision-making. In four short years, we have begun to witness the fruits of those foundational changes.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Kenya also presided over the United Nations Forum on Forests and co-chaired the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Kenya is currently presiding over the UNICEF Board, as it seeks to provide global leadership for issues of concern to the world’s children and their well-being. Kenya is a member in good standing of the international community and it intends to continue to shoulder its global and regional responsibilities. Kenya is especially proud of the scores of Kenyans who work for the United Nations here in New York, but also further afield in peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and in many United Nations organizations in various United Nations stations around the world, including Nairobi. I salute all those Kenyans — every single one of them — for their dedication and commitment.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“The business of ridding the world of those plagues, touched upon but not fully embraced by the Millennium Development Goals, must be the first of the aspirations of the post-2015 development agenda. Equally important, it must be fully financed and accelerated, if we are to lay the groundwork for a transformative agenda for the next generation. I cannot emphasize that point enough. The scourge and shame of debilitating poverty, preventable diseases and chronic hunger must be erased from our global civilization. In reaching the sustainable development goals we have set ourselves, within a time frame of 15 years, we must not fail. This year, at the United Nations, Kenya is proud to have presided over the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We know that our social and economic transformation shall come first from within our nations, our region and our continent, and only secondly from the complement of external ideas and resources. Equally important, those external contributions must recognize the primacy of our aspirations and ideas. They must value and safeguard, rather than simply exploit and consume, our domestic resources and the product of our people’s labour. For the post-2015 development agenda to be transformative, therefore, it must first embrace the primacy of developing countries whose people seek sustained development most. Anything less will be a recipe for failure. We cannot speak of development or of transformation when millions of the world’s people are mired in and are broken by unrelenting poverty, disease and hunger.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Such action will save the people of the nation enormous suffering and offer hope of a better future. I thank the Security Council for its continued cooperation with IGAD in the search for peace in South Sudan. It is this concert of action that will help to bring about lasting peace, which in turn will form the basis for a transformative post- 2015 development agenda for South Sudan and all of its neighbours. On the continent of Africa the development model of the past 50 years has run its course. That outmoded model was defined by negative trade relations, paternalistic global governance regimes and overreliance on official development assistance. Moreover, it was driven by external prescriptions for development that were heavy on political instruction, but light on economic and social transformation. We now know better.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Kenya and other countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have invested considerable effort in ending that tragedy and sparing the people of South Sudan further suffering. Regrettably, however, progress has been slow. We cannot let that young nation and its people down. At this session of the Assembly, I make a special plea for South Sudan, for no nation has, over the years, suffered as much neglect from the international community. Similarly, no country today remains as desperately in need of rapid and transformative economic and social development as South Sudan. We cannot allow a return to political chaos, economic collapse or social desperation. I implore the leaders of that young nation to demonstrate determined and enlightened leadership and to make peace without further delay.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“From the Central African Republic to Mali, Libya and even as far afield as the Middle East and Europe, we see new conflicts and crises that could derail or delay development. In Kenya, we are particularly concerned by the perennial fragility that has come to characterize the greater Horn of Africa. In Somalia, Kenya continues to sacrifice lives and resources in an effort to bring peace to our neighbour. We do this trusting that the international community will stay the course in Somalia. This involves consolidating peace and investing in stable, responsive national institutions that guarantee public safety, promote democracy and civil liberties, as well as development and peace in the country and region. As we meet here, South Sudan also remains in turmoil.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We have become acutely aware that the interplay between democratization, on the one hand, and effective counter-terrorism, on the other, presents severe challenges to our security and our governance institutions. Increasingly, terrorist actors are exploiting the expanded democratic space, sometimes feeding into and even influencing local politics. Unless we can provide an effective buffer to fight back against that tendency, Kenya and indeed other countries will find it difficult to entrench democracy and the post-2015 development agenda. Besides the immediate threat of terrorism, the state of economic and social well-being is also affected by the lack of sustainable peace and security in many of our countries.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Issues of sustained economic development, equality among nations, climate change, industrialization, biodiversity loss and environmental protection must now go hand in glove with the traditional challenges of poverty, disease, hunger and inequality within nations. The new agenda must therefore be universal and comprehensive and responsive to all nations equally in order to be transformative in its impact. We in Kenya recognize, however, that a number of obstacles stand in the way of achieving the new development agenda. The most immediate of these are terrorism and violent extremism. In Kenya, we stand at a critical moment. As we deepen our democracy, we find our nation thrust onto the front line of a regional and global war against terror.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“You, Sir, are presiding over a session of the General Assembly of historic significance to humankind. The sixty-ninth session will oversee the development and adoption of the post-2015 development agenda. This effort will build on the work of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, which developed those goals. Kenya is indeed proud to have been at the forefront of driving the Open Working Group process. The new world development agenda must address itself to the entire cross-section of social, economic and environmental challenges that face the world in the twenty-first century.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Kenya believes that nothing in the immediate future requires more attention and determined response from the international community than the effort to stop and contain that devastating virus. I therefore welcome the establishment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, which I am sure will guide a collective global response. The Ebola crisis underlines the imperative to build strong States that can withstand crisis and respond to emergencies. State weakness in many African countries comes from a history of development paradigms and practices that weakened the State. We must commit to building strong, resilient and accountable States that can effectively respond to shocks, adversities and emergencies in the future.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Earlier this month the Kenyan people gave $1 million to the effort to bring the crisis under control, and we stand ready to do more. Last week, ministers of health from the East Africa region converged in Nairobi and agreed on measures to safeguard our populations and ensure that the virus does not spread in our region. The suspension of international flights into Monrovia and other affected capitals, including by Kenya Airways, followed a stark warning from the World Health Organization (WHO). Those measures, among others, have isolated the affected countries and further hurt the people and economies of the region. With regard to Kenya, our intention was not to do harm, but the warning from the WHO left us, as a regional hub, with few options. We stand ready to resume Kenya Airways flights once appropriate measures are put in place.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“It is a great pleasure to address the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. As the current Chairman of the East African Community, I am particularly pleased to see The Honourable Sam Kutesa preside over the General Assembly. I assure you, Mr. President, of the full support of my Government during your presidency. I would like to begin by lending my voice to all of those who have called for urgent and sustained attention to the devastating Ebola crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Beyond the tragedy of the thousands who have lost lives and loved ones and the many more living with that threat, livelihoods and businesses have collapsed and aspirations for shared prosperity continue to shrink day by day. Kenya stands in solidarity with the countries affected by this devastating virus.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)