Leaders should cut rhetoric and get down to work!
The Cabinet has finally been sworn in. The men and women who will deliver the huge campaign promises by Kenya Kwanza administration have taken office. They better hit the ground sprinting. The alacrity with which they need to take on their duties is informed by two imperatives. The first is the sheer enormity of challenges facing the country. They require complete and total focus. The second is that the patience of Kenyans has started to fray.
Since inauguration, all that Kenyans have heard is proclamations- cynics might say roadside declarations- but little forward movement. And while one can argue that only President William Ruto and Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, were in office, there has been a fully functioning Government system. Kenyans should have started seeing more movement forward.
And this is not even from their detractors who will probably never acknowledge any success, but from many of this Government’s keen supporters who desperately want them to succeed. Kenya Kwanza has apparently, been rather slow in getting off the blocks.
Clearly, its modus operandi must change. First, there is too much rhetoric. Cut this out! The time for campaigns and promises is over. Every pronouncement must be action-oriented.The Cabinet Secretaries must take charge of policy pronouncements in their own dockets. The President and his Deputy must now cede the pulpit on ministerial mandates to give their cabinet secretaries room to work.
Let Kenyans see something changing. Yes, Kenya Kwanza inherited a broke Treasury. Yes, they inherited a dilapidated economy. But Kenyans do not need what is turning into a pity party. They know all this. That is why they elected Kenya Kwanza to come and fix this broken system. They rejected continuation of the status quo through Azimio. So, go do!
The first 100 days of President Ruto’s administration are fast approaching. Kenyans expect a scorecard on the successes achieved in that period, and very concrete steps in the short, medium and long term to address their immediate and long- term challenges. In fact, the 100 days mark will be reached on December 23, 2022. That should be giving the President and his team sleepless nights. The President must give Kenyans a deserving Christmas gift.
Kenya Kwanza must now realise they are The Government. It is the Government of all Kenyans, those who voted for them, and those who did not. They have to very quickly recalibrate their mindset and body language to reflect this.
They must eschew divisive language. Kenya Kwanza no longer has competitors, they have citizens.The President should now hold his emotions in check in public. He is the final arbiter of issues in the country, and must always keep a level head. He can never be seen to act in anger.
Secondly, the President has prodigious energy levels. This energy would be well used in mobilisation of resources both locally and internationally for developing Kenya. His whirlwind regional tour to secure markets when he took over is this kind of intiative.
He also needs to put in place a concrete programme for bringing the country together after a very gruelling and divisive campaign. He travelled to each corner of the country to seek votes. He should now retrace his steps to inculcate cohesion among Kenyans, and enthuse citizens into hard work and patriotism.
As for the Deputy President, he needs a new public demeanour. Stop dressing down civil servants in public, it is very undignified and unbecoming. Top Government leaders cannot afford to demoralize the very officials they expect to deliver the extremely demanding Kenya Kwanza manifesto. Civil servants need encouragement. The rotten eggs can be weeded out without this drama. The President and his deputy have very many internal forums to demand and secure compliance with the work that needs to be done.
Finally, the country’s leadership needs to inject hope. The negative tone of yore has no place going forward. Talk up Kenya. Give Kenyans a grand vision of the future and enthuse them to be part of building it. Enough of the wet blankets. It’s a new dawn!
