With tremendous respect, allow my intrusion into President Dr. William Samoei Ruto’s sunroof style that dominated his campaign platform for the presidency and which has continued unabated two years into his presidency.
There is no doubt that Ruto is at his best on that car roof, engaging rural folk in articulating developmental politics and seeking concurrency from villagers on the efforts his government makes in its transformative agenda.
In so doing, those villagers have had their own way of responding to their president. In some situations, their responses have, advertently or inadvertently, had the undesirable effects of setting them against the president’s mood.
With the appointment of a brand new set of Cabinet Secretaries now fully in office and inducted under the apt theme “a new paradigm beckons’’, it behooves the president to climb down from the car roof, go back to his office, and get down to his primary role of directing policy and let his army of public servants drive his policy implementation.
As it is now, Ruto has tasked himself so much with both policy and implementation roles, which makes him appear to be doing the work of those he has appointed. Granted, there are projects close to the president’s heart. These so-called legacy projects, such as the affordable housing, have seen the president keenly follow their initiation and monitoring their successful implementation. But generally, Ruto must now not only shift gears, but get out of the sunroof and let his ministers do the real work they have been appointed to perform.
It makes little sense for the Cabinet Secretaries (CS)to sit back or remain hidden in the crowds and let the president be the one performing roles and chores that are clearly beneath his profile. The President must of utmost urgency cast off the profile of William Ruto the presidential candidate of 2021-22 and embrace that of Ruto the President of the Republic of Kenya. As matters stand now, Ruto is presenting the dual image of himself as the president and the presidential candidate for 2027. In so doing, both he and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have fallen into the old trend that is continuously eating into the working time of Kenyans.
Ruto and Gachagua must realise that the frequency of their collective and individual tours around the country are heavily disrupting the working schedules and activities of Kenyans. When the President goes to Murang’a for instance, many Kenyans in that county will not engage in their daily routine for the entire day. Cumulatively, the time being spent on organising and attending public and presidential functions is unfathomable. This massive disruption is certainly not necessary for an economy that is struggling under the heavy burden of debt. Kenyans need to be given room to fully engage in productive activities and political rallies of whatever descriptions add little or no value to the enhancement of those economic activities.
With proper organisation and focused attention, the president, despite his hands-on style, can still sit in his office and effectively deliver on his campaign promises. Roads can be constructed, electricity can be connected, schools and universities, markets can be built and all other infrastructure can be undertaken without the president physically going out there and telling villagers that those developmental activities will be coming their way. It will be much better for the president to commission completed projects but leave implementation to those he has appointed.
The president may be energetic, but let him direct that energy in policy direction. But putting himself so much in the implementation mix has the potential of undermining his authority when the projects whose implementation is tied directly to him are either delayed or are poorly completed. In my humble view President William Ruto is better off buried in his office away from daily public attention and letting Kenyans concentrate on building the Kenya that he has demonstrated his commitment to build.
