Elect leaders who meet the threshold of good leadership

While a few Kenyans have expressed satisfaction in the performance of their political leaders, majority are nursing disappointment arising from the failure of their leaders to deliver on their campaign pledges.

This is why as the 2017 elections draw near, we must reflect and resolve to go to the ballot a wiser and a more informed lot than we have ever been. This is why we must urgently take a critical look at the ingredients of good leadership. We have to embark on a rigorous search for the true definition of good leadership based on our national political conscience.

Our country has had a slew of selfless leaders. These are leaders whose names have remained engraved in the hearts and minds of Kenya from generation to generation despite many of them being long dead. The greatest lesson all of us can learn from such leaders is that at the end of the day a leader is remembered not for his unparalleled greed but for his unmatched selflessness.

Our search for good leadership therefore, needs to be anchored upon the selflessness of the aspirants for political office, their integrity and manifestos. Hate mongers who masquerade as leaders must be shunned like a plague. Never again should we vote in leaders on the basis of the depth of their pockets, tribal and ethnic inclinations and political party affiliations. In fact, to realise development, we must interrogate the aspirants’ past performance records.

For example, a parastatal chief under whose watch a parastatal was run down and in extreme cases eventually closed shop is not likely to offer quality political leadership. Similarly, any aspirants who have thick clouds of corruption allegations hanging over their heads ought to be rejected at the ballot by voters.

Kenyan voters should give preference to fearless and truthful leaders. The kind of leaders our nation is in dire need of are those who will not blow hot and cold on national issues and especially when their voices and stances count the most. We need leaders who will tap into their knowledge and experience to catalyse and spur development.

In the National Assembly, we must give the mantle of leadership strictly to leaders who are well-versed with the law; leaders who can jealously guard against any defilement of our Constitution and make laws that buttress the constitutional gains we have realised over time as a nation.

As aspiring politicians begin to kick their heels at our door steps persuading as to entrust them with leadership, we have to interrogate their intellectual capital. It is only when a leader is well-educated that he will be able grasp the complicated issues that leadership comes along with. Besides, well-educated leaders will be able to comfortably and effectively articulate the plight of the electorate.

In addition, history has taught us that academic insecurity leaves leaders susceptible to manipulation either by their political party bosses or private citizens who for one reason or another, hold them at ransom. This in the long run only impedes or jeopardises development.

From the ward level all the way to the presidency, the masses must compare and contrast the manifestos of aspirants and pay special attention to what they say about escalating youth unemployment and runaway corruption. The electorate must also put the aspiring leaders in the hot seat insofar as the problems bedevilling the education sector in our nation is concerned.

Over and above this, as political campaigns gain momentum, we must keep our eyes on the hallmarks of good leadership and only elect leaders who meet the threshold of good leadership. If we are indeed fed up with bad political leadership, we must embrace the ongoing voter registration. We must appreciate the reality in the fact that voter apathy leads to the election of bad leaders.