Fact-checking President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 2020 State of the Nation address
How accurate are the statements made by President Uhuru Kenyatta in his address to the nation in November 2020?
On November 12, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta gave his annual State of the Nation address, as required by the Constitution, to update citizens on measures taken and progress achieved in the realisation of national values.
In his address, President Kenyatta outlined achievements of the Jubilee administration touching on matters health, education, housing, electricity connectivity, food security, the economy and business environment, revenue allocations to the counties and efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the statement, PesaCheck looked at five claims made by the president and found the following:
Claim 1: For the second year running, Kenya has achieved a transition rate of 100% from primary to secondary school
Verdict: FALSE
Transition is the flow of students between different stages in the school system: from one level to the next, between grades within a given level, and out of and back into schools.
In Kenya, the transition rate is used to refer to the movement from pre-school into primary, from primary to secondary, and from secondary to tertiary education.
President Kenyatta’s speech focused on the primary into secondary transition rate; where candidates who sat their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) subsequently joined secondary school.
An article published in the Daily Nation dated February 6, 2019, reported that the Ministry of Education published a status report which showed that out of 1,033,901 pupils that sat for KCPE in 2018, 873,692 reported to schools, representing an 85 percent transition rate.
A Ministry of Education report places the transition rate for February 2019 at 93 percent, while the 2019 Basic Education statistical booklet from the ministry puts the transition rate at 95 percent for the year 2019.
The 2020 Economic Survey published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the transition rate as 85.5 percent, as at April 2019.
In February 2020, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha claimed a 99.8 percent transition rate, while KIPPRA put the 2020 first quarter transition rate at 95 percent.
Based on the status report from the Ministry of Education, the data does not show a 100 percent transition rate in 2019 or 2020, making President Kenyatta’s claim FALSE.
Claim 2: 4.5 million title deeds have been issued in the seven years of Jubilee’s administration
Verdict: Mostly True
According to the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning website, the government has issued 4,500,000 titles deeds over the 6-year period from 2013 to 2019.
However, data obtained from the same ministry shows 4,487,566 deeds were issued in the 7-year period from 2013 to April 2020. Over 3.21 million titles were issued between 2013 to 2017, while over 1.26 million deeds were issued between 2018 and April 2020.
There is a 12,434 difference between the number quoted by the President and the Ministry, giving the impression the 4.5 million figure has been rounded off.
President Kenyatta has consistently made the same claim, including during another national address in June 2020.
Based on the data above, the claim by the president that his administration has issued 4.5 million title deeds in only seven years, MOSTLY TRUE.
Claim 3: The last mile connectivity programme crossed the 7.2 million household connections mark.
Verdict: TRUE
The country’s 2019 census found there were 12.14 million households in Kenya. The census showed access to grid electricity was 50.4 percent in 2019.
By June 2013, which marks the first full financial year under President Kenyatta, total connections were 2.77 million, which increased to 6.18 million customers by June 2017.
KPLC’s Annual Report 2018 showed 6.76 million consumers were connected as at June 2018, with 5.43 million domestic consumers and 1.33 million connected under the Rural Electrification Programme (REP).
The number increased by 4.5 percent in 2019, with 5.66 domestic and 1.41 REP connections, pushing the total figure to 7.07 million consumers.
Domestic connections accounted for 94.5 percent of all customers. This category has over the last five financial years accounted for at least a 90 percent share of the total.
The value given by Kenya Power of 7.5 million, which is almost 7.2 million households, therefore makes the President’s claim TRUE.
Claim 4: Kenya currently ranks 56th globally and third in sub-Saharan Africa on the ease of doing business report, from a low of 136th globally in 2014.
Verdict: TRUE
The World Bank’s 2015 Doing Business report, using data from June 2014, placed Kenya 136th. The country moved 75 places from position 136 to position 61 in 2019, and was ranked at position 7 among the 10 most improved economies in the Doing Business Index.
The most recent report, Doing Business 2020, ranks Kenya 56th out of 189 countries, and third after Mauritius and Rwanda in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
While the World Bank on August 27 announced it was reviewing irregularities around data published in the 2018 and 2020 Doing Business report, the publication outlined areas Kenya made progress and where weaknesses were still evident.
According to the data presented, President Kenyatta’s claim is therefore TRUE.
Claim 5: As at the end of the 2019 calendar year, the current government had achieved a textbook-to-pupil ratio of 1:1 for grades 1 through to 3.
Kenya’s government took over the distribution of textbooks from schools in January 2018, in a new initiative to ensure every student has a textbook for each of the core subjects.
The Education Ministry distributes books on numeracy and literacy (Mathematics, English and Kiswahili), which are the foundational skills in education.
The Basic Education Statistical Booklet 2019 shows that the 1:1 pupil-textbook ratio in the core subjects has almost been achieved in Grade 1, 2 and 3.
This means President Kenyatta’s claims on the pupil to textbook ratio is MOSTLY TRUE.
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This report was written by Sylvia Makinia, a researcher and writer with an interest in health, technology, devolution and public finance. It was edited by PesaCheck deputy editor Rose Lukalo, and was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Enock Nyariki.
The infographics are by Sakina Salem, a Tanzanian graphic designer, visual artist and digital content producer.
PesaCheck, co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of public services linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage.
To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.
PesaCheck is a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles.
