Put priorities right to provide urgent solutions to crisis

A man attempts to salvage his belongings after his house was washed away by floods in Mathare. [Robert Tomno, Standard] 

Failure begets failure. It saps self-confidence and belief; fosters expedience at the expense of long-term planning; and is the enemy of ambition.

For this reason, the best antidote to failure – especially when it comes to public affairs – is actual demonstrable success.

Not plans and hopes. Not lofty rhetoric about the need for individuals to change their ways. The only thing that can create a collective shift from an equilibrium of failure of one of success is showing that it is possible to do good.  

This is why when faced with overwhelming cascading challenges, good leaders are often the ones capable of compartmentalising and tackling issues in a systematic order and with demonstrable results.

In other words, such leaders assiduously avoid spreading themselves thin by doing everything poorly and failing to deliver any tangible results across the broad.  

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