With two PhD holders at the helm, let's reset our priorities

President William Ruto hands a copy of the constitution to Prof Kithure Kindiki after he was sworn in as the third Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya on Nov 1, 2024. [PCS]

The swearing-in of Kithure Kindiki coupled with the recently formed broad-based government should help the President regain his waning credibility. For two years now, there has been very little to smile about.

That the Kenya Kwanza government is held in contempt by the people is an open secret. The contempt derives largely from the government’s inability to point at a convincing success story.

From rising cases of killings and abductions to broken healthcare infrastructure to the now vicious near obliteration of the middle class, Kenya Kwanza looks like a government that has lost its way.

The wretched in our midst who were the primary UDA constituency has also lost all the enthusiasm they had for the President. Save for the political class who could not afford to miss a photo opportunity and a few kitchen niggers, as Malcolm X would describe them, the public largely gave the swearing-in a wide berth.

The attempt to characterise the swearing-in ceremony as a new dawn gave the impression of desperation instead. Prof Kindiki has been part of Dr Ruto’s political cog since the latter's name appeared in the list that was derisively referred to by the press as 'Ocampo Six'. He was a ranking member of the disastrous Jubilee regime that drained the economic vitality of this country through mindless borrowing as senator, majority leader then Deputy Speaker.

He has then held forte at Interior where we witness excesses and over-zealousness of the law enforcement agencies. But since it’s in the public knowledge that the weakness of this column is eternal optimism, it’s our sincere hope that Kindiki will bring all that experience to redefine not only the presidency but the entire government.

The real indicator of our economic vitality is the purchasing power of our people. In the last couple of days, Kenyans watched with horror as the government declared victory that inflation had come down. It went ahead to bellow that fuel prices had dropped. But at what cost?

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At the cost of giving away a strategic national asset that generates Sh30 billion for Sh90 billion for 30 years? At the cost of raiding pay slips of the working class for social health insurance that they still can’t access and have to watch their loved ones die in the hospital queues because healthcare providers insist they have to pay out of pocket?

Is it at the cost of having a public school system that is so steeped in confusion that many parents wish they could take their children to the British curriculum schools but the taxman has raided their pockets and effectively crushed their financial balls, to paraphrase the song of Lawino by Okot P’Bitek?

Will the people, bent double like old beggars under sacks, wail through this pain like victims of fate waiting for some celestial being to save them? Or will they straighten their backs take stock of their own complicity and in simple ways, start a conversation that will change a room, then a city, then a region, then a country?

The government can join the people in that conversation and collectively, we might reset our national agenda as one indivisible country. But political short-termism and hubris might cloud the judgment of those in power and they might further alienate the people.

With little to no life prospects, the people might say there is no glory in death but, relying on the wisdom of Che Guevara, might say it’s better to die standing than to live on your knees.

We must remember that the people rejected Mwai Kibaki just after he had strengthened the fundamentals of the economy. What would stop them from repudiating a government whose best performance is speaking from both sides of its mouth?

With two PhD holders at the helm, with humility and political dexterity, we can commence a journey of national renewal.

A journey premised on big dreams. With quiet but deep patriotism, we can rev up our engines of growth without killing the middle class.

Mr Kidi is the convener Inter-Parties Youth Forum.