Put priorities right to provide urgent solutions to crisis

Presently, many of our counties face cascading crises. Doctors are on strike. Rains are causing floods everywhere. Schools are failing. Electricity supply in spotty. Our schools are failing. Where does one begin?  

Notice that the political incentives often point in the direction of doing something, however insignificant, about everything in order not to give the impression of incompetence.

That is what explains the peripatetic but ineffective style of leadership we see in most of our leaders. They are everywhere – in churches, dancing on podiums, commissioning projects, attending conferences, issuing statements. Yet nothing happens.

Few of them ever take the time to have a clear strategy of systematically solving specific problems.

As such, the cascading failures end up overwhelming the spirit and ethos of their staff, hence resulting in entrenched cultures of failure and incompetence.

Over time, the theatrics of form replace the substance of policy implementation in importance. This is the reality of much of our public policymaking.

And it must change. Our problems are legion, but they are also soluble. We just need to be a little bit more systematic in our approaches. 

If in doubt about Kenyans’ capacity to do good, just look at our collective celebration of the life of General Francis Ogolla last weekend.

Kenyans of all walks of life marveled at his self-discipline, ability to meticulously plan ahead (including his own funeral), his avoidance of corruption, and above all, the fact that he raised wonderful children and had a wholesome family life.

It is almost as if for a moment we believed that we deserve and can have nice things.  

-The writer is a professor at Georgetown University