August poll will be between new order and status quo

Voters queue to cast their votes at NSSF grounds in Nairobi during the 2017 general election. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Philosophers say one constant thing in life is change. But change in itself should deliver outcomes that do not compromise public good. Indian Yoga guru BKS Iyenga argues that change is not something we should fear.

Rather, we should embrace it because without it, nothing ever grows or blossoms, and no country would ever move forward to become what they’re meant to be.

On August 9, Kenya will go to the polls. Campaigns have hit fever pitch, with aspirants and parties putting their best feet forward. The battle of wits is in the offing. The duel will come and go but the bottom line is that change is within sight and in the best interest of Wanjiku.

Millions, including those who have been ambivalent on possibility of a Kenya Kwanza victory, are now more optimistic as opinion shapers close ranks on why Deputy President and UDA leader William Ruto is best bet to succeed President Kenyatta.

From Kenya’s political history in retrospect, there can never be a better time to break away from the old order and try a new in wake of endemic challenges, some bordering on the absurd. Political exclusion is synonymous with the old order. Unlike ODM leader Raila Odinga, Ruto presents the new order. His bid comes with a practical promise of change.

Smear campaigns against him won’t suffice. If he is tainted as his detractors say, where is the evidence and why haven’t they provided it in a court of law?

If you crave inclusivity and equity so that every Kenyan will be included in affairs of government and the country, electing Ruto is the way to go. Being a leader from a pastoralist community who knows pain of marginalisation, I believe Ruto will deliver us from shackles of political and economic entitlement by the privileged few.

The wave of violence every election cycle is costly. From 1992, there have been fights that led to bloodshed as a result of elections. Ruto’s leadership is the antidote. After the post-poll clashes of 2007, we saw him reach out to Uhuru in a process that birthed the Jubilee dream and ended the perennial Kalenjin and Kikuyu conflicts.

In this multi-ethnic environment, Ruto proves that indeed, any Kenyan, irrespective of their background can lead and without diversions from real needs of Kenyans.

Ruto’s zeal will revolutionise the economy through the bottom-up model. The lower income groups have a stake in the economy. A country is not just about the haves. The have not’s have a stake in it.

A Ruto leadership will be a representation of hope, peace, inclusivity, economic prosperity and a stronger nationhood. In him, lies hopes of millions who’ve the dreams of a new order. It can be done.

The writer is Garissa Township MP