Alternative leadership philosophy needed to set country on right path

President William Ruto during inauguration at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi. [File, Standard]

As the country keen follows the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's impeachment process, a looming question is what philosophy is needed to address the widespread deficit of trust between the establishment and the citizenry. While the impeachment debate has taken various forms of political isolation and punishment, three fundamental aspects explain the source of the palpable deficit of trust. First is the preponderance of personalities at the expense of replacing the governing philosophy, secondly the over-reliance on political reactives as opposed to political strategy, and third the early entry into regime survival mode of governance instead of diversification of political assets.

The presidential inauguration speech provided an opportunity for setting a new governance order and philosophy. While the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda served as the ambition, the vehicle to carry out this vision was hardly spoken about. The President failed to articulate which tasks of his vision would be delivered by the functioning civil service bureaucracy and the tasks that would be delivered by the political class to be appointed in Cabinet, diplomatic corps, office of the President and others strewn across the public service rank and file as board members and chairpersons across various State parastatals. Two years down the line, there is a no clear line of implementation because of conflicting interpretation of how the Bottom-up agenda serves the country and not just the well-connected few. This is as a result of lack of a single cohesive governing philosophy. Such a philosophy would articulate and enable well defined consultation and prompt corrective measures.

A governing philosophy has imperatives to the citizen too. It reminds citizens that they do not need the obsession of replacing personalities should they fail to deliver when a whole of system overhaul is what is needed most. I dare say that the excitement around changing personalities instead of the system is what has brought immense grief and sense of hopelessness. What citizens need even as they grapple with the Kufa Dereva, Kufa Makanga ideology is to question what alternative leadership philosophy is needed to set the country back to the straight path as opposed to the current euphoria about potential replacements. As long as the ideology that voted in the current crop of leadership remains, any form of better leadership will be postponed and that is why it is important for every citizen to be an auditor at large and not delegate this role to any individual or activist.

The second cause of the trust deficit is the over-reliance on political novices to implement the presidential agenda as opposed to centering the vision on the experienced civil service bureaucracy that has implemented similar initiatives in the past. Political novices, while they helped deliver on the presidential campaign, operate in the reactive space as opposed to strategy and political trade-craft. These types of operatives thrive in pushing fear tactics and they are the ones advocating and leveraging on goons to force down dead on arrival policies. They distinguish themselves by fermenting discord and infiltrating civic processes in order to portray themselves as the most loyal to the Presidency forgetting that the nation is greater than their bravado. It should be clear that articulation of well-intended projects by the Presidency cannot be cured by extra-judicial killings and abductions. Presidential legitimacy stems from day-to-day civic engagement and cooperation as opposed to intimidation and violence. Political strategy at this time calls for Treasury to eliminate punitive taxation and ensuring that Parliament is not on a wanton shopping spree of punitive legislation that will stifle essential freedoms.

Political strategy would inform proper sequencing of actions with a view to empowering, not isolating the citizenry from crucial development interventions. In the absence of correct political strategy, a regime can easily be pushed too early to enter survival mode which tends to be over reactive, over sensitive and highly defensive.