Change and what it means for Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga and William Ruto

From his actions and utterances, President Kenyatta has grudgingly accepted change.

Henry Kissinger former Secretary of State writes in his new book Leadership- Six Studies in World Strategy that Charles de Gaulle, the most consequential post-war leader of France - used to say "you have to withdraw from events before they withdrew (sic) from me." President Kenyatta sorely lacked this. Coupled with poor delivery of the message, one then appreciates how the 4th President always seemed to struggle even to express his successes; or what happened between him and his estranged deputy, including accepting that it is all over for him.

Kissinger adds that "leaders must serve as educators, communicating objectives, assuaging doubts and rallying support... reliance on coercion is a symptom of inadequate leadership."
"Good leaders," he writes, "elicit in their people a wish to walk to walk alongside them."

The vital attributes for a leader in times of change are character and courage, says Kissinger. The courage "to choose a direction among complex and difficult options... character reinforces fidelity to values over an extended period."

President-elect William Ruto. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

He could do that by, say, dispersing more resources from the centre (Nairobi) to the marginal areas not just to signal inclusivity, but also as a realization that Nairobi can no longer withstand the weight of the whole country.

With that, he could disabuse the people of the notion that government is a doer of big things. Rather it ought to be an enabler.

This will attract pushback from those for whom a new order spells doom. A small price to pay.

He has in his ranks people like Musalia Mudavadi whose reforms in the telco and petroleum industries gave us Safaricom - the region's most successful business- and a liberalised fuel market devoid of fuel shortages and black-market shenanigans you see in other countries.

Yet de Gaulle had his downsides.

Despite his successes, like an "exceptional statesman" and "demonstrated greater gifts of intuition" Kissinger writes that de Gaulle could be "haughty, cold, abrasive and petty... he radiated mystique, not warmth. As a leader, he inspired admiration, even awe, but rarely affection."