President William Ruto has launched an ambitious bid to craft Kenya’s next long-term development blueprint, declaring that the country can become a “prosperous, high-income, industrialised and globally competitive nation within one generation” if it seizes what he called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead Africa’s economic rise.

In a 36-minute special national address from State House on Thursday evening, Ruto laid the foundation for a new development vision to succeed Vision 2030, which he acknowledged remains “off target” in its ambition of making Kenya an upper-middle-income country by the end of the decade.