What Kenya needs is a man or woman with a vision

As time flies by and the clock ferociously ticks towards 2012, all around us Kenyans of diverse shades and shapes are popping up to declare their intention to vie for the presidency. In and of itself, a declaration of an intention to gun for the country’s top seat cannot be faulted. As a matter of fact, the Constitution, in Article 38 unequivocally and unambiguously affords all qualified Kenyans the right to contest for any elective office of their choice.

What is of grave concern to Kenyans, nonetheless, is what these presidential wannabes are bringing to the National dining table. Kenyans are keenly interested in knowing the ideologies they are bringing to the National high table and whether they have any vision for the country.

Needless to say that the office of the president is so highly esteemed that it can only be trifled with to the detriment of the whole country. Lest we forget this is the very office that, apart from serving as the nerve centre of the country’s affairs, it is the fulcrum around which weighty governance issues revolve. Mess up with the presidency and the whole country is sold to anarchy.

The canvas of history is painted with chilling and terrifying tales of countries that were literally driven to the dogs by despots, who earlier in their political careers passed themselves as reformists with their country’s best interests at heart. While a few overthrew legitimate regimes and installed themselves as leaders, the majority were handed popular mandate by their fellow countrymen and women, oblivious of the tyranny and crassness that lurked behind the seemingly innocuous exteriors.

Uganda is one such example. When Field marshal Idi Amin Dada overthrew the Milton Obote regime in 1971 and ensconced himself in office, he embarked Uganda on a downward spiral from which it has never fully recovered. In no time, the Ugandan economy was in tatters, following Amin’s draconian and ruthless way of dealing with investors. He became a law unto himself, killing and maiming both real and imaginary adversaries.

Somalia-the global headquarters of anarchy- is also where it is due to ludicrous leadership. With such glaring and petrifying examples all around us it is only prudent and in order that we tread circumspectly as we approach the 2013 general election. Like the biblical children of Israel, we are a critical stage in our march towards the Promised Land of economic vibrancy. We cannot afford to entrust the country’s leadership with the mediocre types. Doing so will be tantamount to chaining our motherland to economic, political and social stagnation.

Look at the whole lot that is brimming with a fierce ambition to succeed President Kibaki when he vacates office. Prime Minister Raila Odinga, DPM Uhuru Kenyatta, VP Kalonzo Musyoka, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Gichugu MP, Martha Karua, the Reverent Mutava Musyimi et al. Who among them has never dipped his/her fingers in the national purse and stolen from the public? Who among them has never used his/her influential position to secure employment and other opportunities for incompetent relatives and cronies?

Who among them can look Kenyans in the eye and render a convincing account of how they amassed their wealth? Who among them has never engaged in political activities verging on the ridiculous and calculated to dismember Kenyans along ethnic lines and further his/her own selfish political ends?

If any of them can answer those questions to my satisfaction he or she can count on my support. One need not to be a seer to behold the appalling poverty of thought afflicting Kenyan politics. The Kenyan political stage is teeming with opportunists that will have no qualms selling the whole country to the highest bidder. We have the misfortune of being saddled with a political class that specialises in spewing falsehoods and treating Kenyans with the utmost contempt.

Come to think of it; some of the people promising to walk Kenyans to economic nirvana if elected as president are no paying taxes. Some are even still battling corruption related cases in courts of law. Won’t it be foolish to peg the hopes of a whole country on such people? How on earth can we expect such thieving types to be possessed of what it takes to bail a country out of impecuniousness?

What this country needs is a man or woman with a sound and credible vision. Kenya urgently needs someone that is shone of the raw rapacity and magalomania that is the forte of the vast majority of our politicians. We need someone that will not hesitate to take on the hydra-headed dragon of impunity that is still holding sway in our country.

It is only a man or woman that is possessed of a sense of direction and has a severe and deeply embedded distaste for sleaze that will help steer our country up the road of economic,social and political advancement. Anything less than that is child’s play and the height of delusion.

This article was published in the Star Newspaper on November 5, 2011