Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta delivered his first State of the Nation Address in Parliament in a week the country witnessed heightened insecurity following a gun attack on a church that left six people dead.

In a message that dwelt on governance, international obligations and national security, President Kenyatta outlined his achievements since taking office a year ago and his legislative agenda for the remainder of 2014.

Having pledged to defend the Constitution at his inauguration in March last year, he went to great lengths to tell the nation how much his government had done to roll out devolution, a key plank of the supreme law, which was promulgated in 2010.

The 47 county governments have been set up, with fully functional bureaucracies, and more than 30 per cent of the tax revenue ($9.2 billion) transferred to the counties, with some areas receiving more cash transfers from Nairobi in a year than they had in decades, he said.

Ironically, MPs from the President’s ruling Jubilee Coalition have launched a systematic assault on devolution, tabling a Bill in Parliament to reduce the counties to 10 and cut the number of ward representatives from 10 to three in each county. And, on the eve of the address, MPs stripped county governors of some privileges in a move to cut them down to size.

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In his speech to a nation wracked by terror attacks since its military went after the Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, the President made it clear that the Kenyan forces would remain in the neighbouring country.

However, his proposals to hire more police officers and install CCTV cameras in cities to curb insecurity were criticised by the opposition leaders as inadequate.

The President has been accused of waffling over reforms in national security operations since the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September.

It is instructive that a report on the attack by a national security committee was rejected by Parliament as “shoddy” the day before. But the President pledged more defence spending for a country that is perhaps among the most vulnerable to terror attacks in sub-Saharan Africa.

Widely circulated media reports said Kenya’s lead anti-terror agency had a budget of a measly $735 a month for fuel and office supplies, an embarrassing revelation for a government facing increasing international and homegrown terror threats.

The public sector wage bill was another favourite theme in the President’s address, coming after his call mid last year for the retrenchment of 100,000 public servants to free up resources for an ambitious energy and infrastructure projects.

Early this month, he and his deputy, William Ruto, took a 20 per cent pay cut, saying they hoped that it would send a strong message that austerity was necessary to bring down the $5.7 billion wage bill.

But the Opposition has dismissed the gesture as “populist” and a superficial way of addressing the wage crisis.

On corruption, critics accuse the President of inaction, even after he recently admitted that graft networks were deeply embedded in his own office. Jubilee’s pledge to give laptops to primary school pupils has stalled over questionable procurement.

Wary of his strained relationship with the West, President Kenyatta’s speech struck both a defiant and conciliatory tone on foreign relations.

He stressed that while Kenya will defend its sovereignty it “remains profoundly connected to the multilateral system.” But he left no doubt that his administration’s foreign policy was chiefly anchored on stronger ties with African countries and forging new partnerships.

But while the President sounded optimistic about his government’s performance, projecting that the economy would grow by six per cent in 2014, critics pointed to rising cost of living and growing poverty as blots on the Jubilee government’s record.

There is also an upsurge in poaching of elephants and rhinos. There is also growing concern within security agencies over the emergence of terror groups comprising radicalised Muslim youth in Mombasa with reinforcement from Tanzania and logistical support from Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda.

— By Trevor Analo and Fred Oluoch