Leadership the key for beating poverty

Willingness to learn

He has been to China many times, and in 2018 he said at a meeting that Kenya is keen to learn from the CPC not only to develop the party but also grow the economy.

The same year, to further understand the secret of China's development, Tuju started to take Chinese classes twice a week. He can speak simple Chinese sentences now and has sent his good wishes to the Chinese people on several occasions in Chinese.

He expressed his willingness for his party to learn from the successful experience in governing the country.

"The Communist Party of China is the biggest political party in the world. Its grassroots organization is second to none. The Jubilee Party can only aspire, and where possible learn some lessons. It is unlikely that in our lifetime the Jubilee Party can get anywhere close to the organizational levels of the Communist Party of China. In any case the cultural contexts are very different. But once again what is wrong from learning from the most successful and the best run?"

The model that works in China can also work in other developing countries, including some African ones, especially those that have exhibited similar development strategies, he said.

China's Belt and Road Initiative had a lot of common goals with Kenya's Vision 2030, which aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and secure environment, Tuju said.

Another key factor that helped China grow to be the world's second-largest economy and the world's factory within just 30 years was universal literacy, numeracy and scientific knowledge, without which no country in history, including China, has transformed its economy and people.

Tuju praised China's approach and system and its relevance to Africa today.

Kenya would like to deepen collaboration with China in all aspects and boost the development of bilateral ties and the relations between the CPC and his Jubilee Party, he said.

Agriculture is one area in which Tuju said more collaboration between China and Africa is necessary if Africa is to enjoy the kind of rapid growth China has had in the past few decades.

"You will notice that most of our agriculture is rain-fed and employs very little technology. In addition, many people look down on agriculture and associate it with peasantry and poverty. However, we cannot be food sufficient or a moderately prosperous society without modern agricultural practices."

Tuju said he hoped China and Africa would collaborate more in technological advances and best practices when it comes to agriculture. Chinese investment in Africa's agriculture in terms of technology will help lift agriculture on an industrial scale to increase capacity, he said.