CS Mbadi bets on universities to propel Agenda 2063
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi during a press briefing at Sarova Imperial Hotel in Kisumu on September 16, 2026.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has placed universities and research at the centre of Kenya’s ambition to become a high-income economy by 2063, as the country begins charting a development path beyond Vision 2030.
Mr Mbadi said institutions of higher learning would be critical in developing the skills, generating evidence and nurturing the leadership needed to drive the country’s long-term development ambitions.
“A high-income Kenya will need more doctors, nurses and public health experts; engineers, data scientists and software developers; managers and entrepreneurs; and teachers to prepare the next generation,” he said during celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Adventist University of Africa (AUA).
He noted that Vision 2030 had laid the foundation for Kenya’s economic transformation, helping the country attain lower-middle-income status in 2014. Implementation of its flagship projects currently stands at 66.1 per cent.
Building on these gains, President William Ruto launched a national conversation on Kenya’s future beyond Vision 2030 on August 12, 2026.
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The process is expected to culminate in a citizen-owned national development charter by June 2027, followed by a transition plan by June 2028 to guide implementation of the next long-term vision.
Mr Mbadi said the new framework would break from the top-down approach used in developing Vision 2030, with greater public participation and legislative backing.
“Unlike Vision 2030, which was top-down, this one is going to be bottom-up. People will be involved, and it is going to be legislated, unlike the one that we are implementing today,” he said.
He said the emerging framework identifies five transformations to shape the country over the next 30 years, including economic, human, digital, green and institutional.
“Each depends on people with knowledge, skills and integrity, and universities build much of that capacity,” he said.
Mr Mbadi singled out postgraduate institutions such as AUA, saying they had a special responsibility to train researchers, senior leaders and educators capable of multiplying skills across the economy.
Beyond training, he said universities must generate research to inform government policy and help the country anticipate emerging challenges rather than wait for crises to unfold.
The post-2030 framework, he said, would require a shift from projects to outcomes, and from crisis response to anticipation and resilience.
“These shifts require sound research to provide home-grown solutions to address our development challenges,” he said, urging universities to work closely with the government to generate evidence to inform policy in public health, leadership, governance and digital technology.
The government has identified the Digital Superhighway and Creative Industry as one of the five pillars of its economic agenda, with Kenya already attracting investments in data centres.
AUA Vice-Chancellor Ademola Tayo noted that information technology now drives teaching, learning, research and administration, as well as virtually every enterprise in a modern university.
Mr Mbadi also described education and training as key enablers of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
He said education had received the largest allocation in the proposed Sh3.56 trillion budget for the 2027/28 financial year, accounting for 25.9 per cent, or about Sh922 billion.
“This allocation sends a clear message from the government that investing in our people is investing in our future,” he said.
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