Watch out for fakes as we switch from personality cults to ideas
Police redirect members of the public outside Parliament Buildings ahead of the arrival of National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani for 2021/22 National Budget reading on June 10, 2021.
What you need to know:
- We have seen Kenyans elect leaders based on the popularity of their familial roots.
- We base politics on the depth of one’s pocket, their tribe or how cool and classy they appear to us.
For many years, politics of personality has dominated public discourse in Kenya. The ‘person’ has been considered more important than the policies he or she stands for.
We have seen Kenyans elect leaders based on the popularity of their familial roots; what commoners refer to as ‘Dynasties’ or political cool-kids. We base politics on the depth of one’s pocket, their tribe or how cool and classy they appear to us. These considerations, however, do not constitute an ideal yardstick for competent leadership.
The political atmosphere is, however, changing. The people have come to embrace the language of ideas.
We have seen politicians struggle on TV shows to speak the language of instant economic transformation.
Their plastic Damascus moments are in reality part of plans to disown the politics of personality – on which they have for so long ridden – and hop onto the politics of ideas, and that is proving an uphill task for most.
Pit of lousy governance
Naturally, they will have to change and adapt, or watch the privileges they enjoy slide away.
And so we have been treated to a ridiculous exhibition of the Dunning-Kruger effect, with everyone try to fit into the political bandwagon of transformative ideas, including those who have had five years to improve the lives of their constituents.
That, even to those who suffer selective amnesia, should sound the alarm and prompt them to ask who plunged the country into the pit of lousy governance, outright disregard for the rule of law by the political class and debt distress. But, as expected, we will not go in that direction.
We must acknowledge that one cannot cheat or buy their way into effective leadership. You must believe in it first. We need leaders who understand the responsibility that comes with their positions.
Any politician worth their salt and deserving of public trust should, at the very least, articulate policies that, if implemented, would solve the challenges bedevilling us. This should come from genuine desire to salvage our country from plunging deeper into the hole of distress.
The writer is a businessman and an advocate for good governance.
