When the 2013 UhuRuto government came to power, my son who was eleven years old then, was so excited that he asked his mother to buy him a portrait of President Uhuru Kenyatta to hang in his room.
The young man was thrilled by the 'adult-talk' to the effect that these two (Uhuru and William Ruto), were a dynamic duo, a two-some that would change the course of our country by uniting it and burying the greed and tribalism that had afflicted our nation since independence.
They would, the adults told him, multiply the economy to new heights, building on former President Mwai Kibaki's foundation. His age group would consequently easily get relevant jobs or self-employ themselves in this robust economy when they left school.
Between the two leaders, one was so to say, a son of a king, who had everything he and his family would ever want in life and the other was a son of a peasant who had remarkably risen to the mountain top.
So while the son of the king had no need to amass more, the son of the peasant had the desire to see every other Kenyan peasant (hustler) rise to dignity.
As my son grew and corruption scandals became order of the day in the UhuRuto government and again he heard the adults talk about these ills being committed against the nation and its subjects, he became disillusioned and finally pulled down the president's photo.
Then came the fallout between Uhuru and his deputy and my confused son literally stopped caring about the politics of his motherland. However, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope with UDA's wave sweeping through Mt Kenya and adults were saying that Ruto might just be the man to change what had gone wrong, his five-year 'active' stint in UhuRuto notwithstanding. My son was hopeful again.
His hopes are still high and that is why you, President William Ruto must keep your promises; at least most of them. He has heard that you are a workaholic and to satisfy his expectations and those of millions of Kenyans, you must keep that dawn to midnight schedule, not serving yourself but serving Kenyans. My son is much wiser than he was in 2013 and so he may not hang your portrait in his bedroom, but for him to believe in you, you must slave-drive your appointees to ensure service delivery to Kenyans.
Soon my son and many of his colleagues will be out of college and will join thousands if not millions of other young people who are looking for ways to earn a decent living.
Mr President, you must assure these young (and some not too young) souls, that they have a future in Kenya. There is dignity in hard work Mr President, but you cannot dignify giving a slasher to a mechanical engineering graduate to clear road reserves.
While re-looking at the Competency Based Curriculum, make education relevant, so where university education is not appropriate, other livelihood skills can be imparted. Ensure the political rhetoric about no Kenyan going to bed hungry turns into action and that the underprivileged get minimum health care.
And oh, let's keep the love. A lot of people would be disillusioned if the sort of public spat we have witnessed in the last four years, rears its ugly head again.
-johnkihuria22@gmail.com
