On 6th September 2000, the United Nations Assembly at a meeting in New York adopted the Millennium Declaration and Development Goals. The MDGs, as they are fondly called, are a set of quantified and time- bound targets for improving the social, political and economic aspects of human life in the 21st century, in the least developed and developing countries, by 2015. MDGs are geared towards fighting poverty, HIV/AIDs and other infectious diseases, accelerate human development in the three main spheres and facilitate the integration of the developing world, especially Africa into the global economy; to be at par with the rest of the world. The 193 UN member states and other international organizations agreed to come together and work towards achieving these goals. Combating these will ultimately address the major challenges facing our people, both at the continental level and the global stage. Kenya was chosen alongside three other African countries, Ghana, Senegal and Ethiopia to steer the implementation of these goals in Africa. Since the turn of the millennium, Kenya has made tremendous steps in improving the political, social and economic spheres of her people, despite the many challenges that are hampering the road to success. As a country we are coming off the dark yesteryears of social, political and economic woes. Under the shrewd stewardship of H.E President Mwai Kibaki, we have been on a meteoric rise to claiming our rightful place amongst the world’s elite. The eight Millennium Development Goals form the much needed remedy, for our country that is suffering from so many ailments. These are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, gender equality and women empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health care, combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other infectious diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and building global partnerships and other requirements, which include infrastructure, science and technology, trade and industry, security and good governance. However, as a nation, we cannot wholly achieve the MDGs by 2015; it is way too near for their realization. This road has been treacherous, laden with many bottlenecks. Challenges, which include grand corruption, lack of political goodwill, negative tribalism and ethnicity, ignorance and insufficient financial backing, amongst a myriad of other challenges stand in the way of attaining the MDGs. Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, which afflicts a great percentage of Kenyans, is still far from realization, even as 2015 looms in the horizon. Many are still living in deplorable conditions, where getting access to basic necessities is a daunting task. This has been evidenced by the mushrooming of slums around many urban centres, Nairobi been a perfect example. Shacks and shanties, made from iron sheets and cartons have mushroomed up. These are pointers to tough, harsh and hard living conditions by Kenyans who have all gone job-hunting in the urban centres, to escape from not-so friendly lives in the rural areas. In these slums, access to quality food, sanitation services and shelter have been greatly compromised. Back in the rural areas, the many mud traditional huts which have been grass -thatched, are a clear indication of the abject poverty, impoverishing Kenyans in many rural parts of our country. Access to safe drinking water, quality food and sanitation services is in dire conditions. Kenyans face starvation, year in year out whenever harsh climatic conditions strike. It has been the norm for relief food to be taken to these people, both by the government and non-governmental organizations. Better management structures within the agricultural sector need to be put in place. These will help avert scenarios where agricultural products are thrown to waste simply because the national stores lack the capacity to handle the boom harvests. Better marketing strategies are also needed to ensure that the products are bought at reasonable prices whereby the farmers won’t cry foul. The government should also buy these products from the farmers at improved prices. This helps avoid the ugly scenarios where farmers uproot their crops. Improved road network in these agriculturally productive areas are need to ensure that products do not rot in the shambas, especially whenever it rains. More job opportunities should be created to reduce the staggering percentage of Kenyans who are not in any form of employment. As a country if we reduce the percentage of dependants, then we shall surely have succeeded in eradicating abject poverty. These will ultimately help address the poverty and extreme hunger facing the country. Since the introduction of the Free Primary Education in 2003 by the NARC government, many children who would not have otherwise acquired the much needed elementary education are happily enjoying it. Despite the teething problems facing this noble undertaking by the government, free primary education has been a success. These problems include lack of sufficient facilities and finances, deployment of teachers, poverty, child labor and lack of schools, especially in the marginalized parts of the country among others. To overcome these, stringent laws should be enacted by the parliament to curb child labor and early marriages, especially in the slums and amongst pastoralist communities. However, intensive extensive awareness campaigns should be done by the government, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, amongst pastoralist communities. This will help them understand the importance of education and perils of early marriages, in the fight against poverty, akin to the saying that educating children is one way to eradicate poverty. This will also help vanquish gender disparity in the provision of primary and secondary education and all other levels by 2015. This is mainly because, the girl child- child has been slighted, especially within many communities that are yet to break away from the yoke of tradition. Marginalized communities and regions need to be put back into the national focus. These are mainly areas in the North- Eastern province, where schools very few, and the few lack the substantial teacher workforce. There is also the issue of a huge backlog from the primary level, who are not able to join secondary schools, either due to lack of enough financial support or non-qualification. There are also those from the secondary level. These two groups need to be accommodated in other tertiary institutions and meaningful income generating activities respectively. Otherwise, failure to do this will be watering down the essence of affordable education to every Kenyan child, in the country’s quest to attain this millennium development goal. Achieving these remains very difficult, due to the many challenges that that the education sector has faced of late. The many cases of misuse of funds, corruption within the sector, strikes and frequent go-slows by teachers are some of the key issues that ought to be addressed, if we are to achieve this goal of achieving universal primary and secondary education for the Kenyan child. There has to be transparency and increased accountability. Corruption has to be tackled within the sector. Teachers must also be given better terms of service and get improved salary remuneration from the government. Achieving gender equality and empowerment of women is the third Millennium Development Goal. Gender inequality and a general suppression of the African woman have been prevalent within our African society and Kenyan society in particular. This has been mainly due to the tradition that many communities in our country uphold and are reluctant to let go. This has for long perpetrated the misguided belief that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, and submissiveness to the African man. This has greatly contributed to the lagging behind of the African continent on the global scene, in terms of development. The Kenyan society has waged a war against these injustices to the African woman. The current constitution provides for greater representation of women, in all aspects of governance in our current. This is a step in the right direction Women empowerment groups are also relentlessly fighting for the voice of women to be heard in the running of the country. However, these efforts have been hampered by several challenges. Key among them is lack of awareness and education amongst some communities, who are still deeply rooted in tradition that that has been known to oppress the Kenyan woman, especially pastoralist communities. These communities need to be educated on the important role of women in the modern society as the country stays on course to realizing her potential. Helping these communities break free from the yoke of tradition will be a much needed boost to achieving gender equality and empowerment of women. As a society, Kenya must recognize the invaluable role or her women, to achieving development for this country. Reducing child mortality and disability in children is also a priority in realizing the MDGs by 2015. Death amongst infants in the country is rife. There have also been the scattered cases of abandoned fetuses, especially in urban areas. These are mainly thrown away by young mothers who for one reason or the other decide to terminate their pregnancies, in the dark streets. Deaths of infants in the country can be attributed to poor medical attention, other birth-related complications, especially at birth and poor healthcare. The government has greatly focused on the health sector, even though much needs to be done in order to stay on course to achieving this dream by 2015. Challenges facing the reduction of child mortality include poor nutrition, lack of sufficient healthcare facilities, inadequate workforce and lack of enough funding to support initiatives within the child healthcare sector. Mothers also need to be educated on how to best provide healthcare to their infants, especially those in rural and marginalized regions and amongst the nomadic communities. The government should also seek to help mothers in these areas with cheap and quality child healthcare services that are affordable to them. The government should also improve working terms and salaries to the doctors, nurses and all other medical practitioners. This would help avert go- slows and strikes that have proved to have far reaching negative implications. Improving maternal health is part of the Millennium Development Goals. This is aimed at reducing maternal deaths. Many women die each year due to pregnancy related complications and others who suffer from disabilities during pregnancy and child births. The government’s efforts in fighting these have faced several challenges. They mainly involve the nomadic communities who are constantly on the move, limited medical facilities that are difficult to access, especially by women in the marginalized areas, high cost of acquiring these medical services. More and sustained efforts need to be consolidated in order to improve maternal healthcare in the country. The government should intensify awareness campaigns amongst the nomadic communities, the rural areas and marginalized areas in the country. It should also improve the medical facilities in these areas. Quality medical services should be availed to the poor ordinary women, at affordable costs. Those delivering maternal healthcare should be given better working conditions and salaries should improved to avoid cases of strikes and go- slows. These will help address the challenge of quality and sufficient maternal healthcare in the country, as we move towards 2015. Combating HIV/AIDs, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, has been targeted as part of the Millennium Development Goals. The government’s declaration of HIV/AIDs as a national disaster was followed by intense efforts and initiatives in fighting it. The provision of antiretroviral drugs, facilitation of Voluntary Counseling and Testing centres, provision of free condoms at public healthcare facilities and intense awareness campaigns are efforts that the government, alongside non- governmental organizations have engaged in. However, these have met challenges. There are communities who are still rooted in tradition and deny the existence of HIV/AIDs. Ignorance by people especially amongst nomadic communities and some rural areas in the country have not helped the fight against the scourge. Thus, awareness has to be created amongst these groups and the entire country. Increasing the health facilities and adequately supporting them to offer quality services will greatly boost the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases in the country. Awareness campaigns also need to be intensified across the country, to equip Kenyans with the necessary knowledge on how to avoid these diseases. Environmental sustainability has also been envisaged in the Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. This is geared towards reversing loss of environmental resources, conservation and management of the environment and natural resources. It aims at integrating principles of sustainable development into the country’s policies and programs. Increasing water supply, rainwater collection, sinking of bore-holes and dug wells and improving sewerage both in urban and rural areas, septic tanks and pit latrines is also enshrined in this initiative. However, the government’s efforts in achieving sustainable environment have been hampered by a number of key issues. Key among them is cheap misguided politics especially with regard to conservation and restoration of the forests and other water- catchment areas. An example is the Mau Forest rehabilitation program which took political twist, thus greatly slowing it down. Kenyans also need to be educated on the importance of conserving the environment, and improving their sanitation facilities. Politics should also be kept away from any initiative that is genuinely meant for environmental conservation in the country. Local authorities throughout the country should also seek to improve sanitation facilities within their areas of jurisdiction. Enhancing global partnerships and other requirements is the eighth objective of the Millennium Development Goals 2015. These other requirements include infrastructure, science and technology, trade and industry, and security and governance. The Kibaki administration will be fondly remembered for the gallant efforts in improving the country’s infrastructure, whereby road construction and rehabilitation has been undertaken across the entire country. Road network has been greatly improved, in a manner that has earned applauds from all quarters. However, a major challenge facing this has been unscrupulous construction companies, which do shoddy jobs, especially in carrying out minor road rehabilitations. These need to be stamped out, or even have their licenses revoked till they address, for misconduct in the delivery of their services. In enhancing governance, the fight against corruption has been intense. However, anti-corruption bodies, such as the now defunct Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission faced unprecedented political resistance, with hindered the execution of their mandate. For the fight against corruption to succeed in Kenya, these bodies must be given a free hand to execute their mandate. The political class must also be pushed to the wall, in order to have that goodwill that is greatly needed in this fight. Civil education campaigns must be intensified in order to free Kenyans from that yoke of political manipulation by some of the corrupt political class. Recent explosion in the number of institutions of higher learning, throughout the country has greatly boosted advancement of science and technology. However, this has faced one major problem; lack of adequate funding to support it. Increased budgetary allocations and international support is needed to make this a success story. The government also needs to spread its net wide and establish more trade ties with international trade partners and other developed countries. This will greatly boost trade and industry in the country. However, grand corruption amongst government officials has greatly hampered this. This has put off many interested partners others who have consequently withdrawn or withheld their funding of development projects in the country. An example was the Free Primary Education misappropriation of billions of shillings, which drew a hue and cry from the international community. Britain, one of the major sponsors of the program, consequently contemplated withdrawing their support. Grand corruption and malpractices are vices that need to be stamped out, in order to stay on course to achieving the set targets. Police reforms as set out in the new constitutional dispensation, are aimed at enhancing security. However, there got to be the goodwill to implement these, both from the entire country in general and the current police in particular. The road to achieving the Millennium Development Goals 2015 is treacherous, laden with many obstacles. These make it impossible t wholly achieve them by 2015. However, we are moving in the right direction in our endeavor to make the country a better place than we found it.