Albert Amenya: Assessing Ruto’s 7months in office

In the next few days, President William Ruto will be seven months in office. As opined by this writer, Ruto’s government has scored C+ in unearthing the billions stolen from the taxpayers. Ruto’s efforts at taming the children of corruption are not yielding results. Kenyans look forward to a judicial dispensation of justice for these corrupt individuals to serve as deterrents.

The president has been transactional in almost seven months in office struggling to clean the Augean mess of the previous administrations. He is trying to unearth the colossal rape of the nation by the Uhuru administration. However, behind his frail and slimy look we lack a soul full of energy with vision and mission to kill corruption in a beleaguered country. We understand his mission to exterminate corruption; but his interest should go beyond this to encompass national integration; not a “one-issue” president. Security, economic and social development should understandably be injected into his policy. His fight on corruption should be all inclusive with no sacred cows.

In order to change Kenya for good; unencumbered by elites’ pressure to manipulate or influence the judiciary to abort justice, President Ruto should make it a matter of urgency to deliver on all of his promises. He must maintain his body language to rid Kenya of corruption. He should remain fair, firm and consistent in his approach at dealing with these chief agents of corruption.

"Nauseatingly, the President’s body language on national crisis has been below expectations. His silence each time we experience the economic crisis in Kenya is disheartening."

A caring leader must show speedy and unblemished concern to a national calamity. Kenya is highly polarized along tribal lines. Ruto should take cognizance of polarizing norms to use former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to bridge and connect all the dots to national cohesion and development.

This writer is an incurable optimist and the unrepentant author of a prosperous Kenya; he is also a staunch supporter of president Ruto because of his incorruptibility. But we must be frank with Mr President that some impatient and agitated Kenyans are upset and angry with his government’s shrouded performance. Kenyans are getting frustrated with the state of the nation. The fundamentals of the Kenyan economy are weak. We should be more constructively critical to identify Ruto’s failures and encourage him in his avowed mission to rid the country of corruption.

Mr President must be acquainted with his own inadequacies and the shoddiness of some characters in his administration. The president’s efforts are not commensurate with his agenda and the expectations of the impatient citizens of Kenya. Understandably, what has been destroyed cannot be undone in his days in office but the fundamental problems of the people must be met, which include jobs, security, and national cohesion.

Only those who understand the enormous challenges the president has on the ground will have patience with him and his honest performance so far. The process of re-inventing Kenya through change is not going to be easy. It is easy to destroy a magnificent structure but to rebuild it is a herculean task for men and women of goodwill.

Meanwhile, most of Ruto’s Cabinet Secretaries are showing signs of incompetence, and seem confused of their constitutional duties, responsibilities and the crucial positions they currently hold. Some of them are discreet with the ways they explain the business of government. Government in any given society is a serious business. Good intent is not enough for good policy, it needs sustained ideas, constant stock-taking, transparency, open-mindedness, effective communication, selflessness and delivery of services.

In a nutshell, the position of the CS of Information is politically sacrosanct to showcase the progress, failures, achievements and the obstacles of government, but the current CS of Information and communications and the Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo has been found wanting in this area. He has been inconsistent in information dissemination. All government CSs should always be on the same page with the president in information sharing and dissemination. In recent times, there have been inconsistencies, contradictory messages, cagey and shrouded lines of communication among the executive. President Ruto needs bouncy young and fresh technocrats in his government; people with impeccable values and academic credentials who will deliver the dividends of the people’s hard-earned-change.

The president should look into this anormaly and bring government closer to the populace. Kenyan problems should be shared and seem taken care-of and solved by the people that direct their affairs. The executive needs to bring this government to the door-steps of the people. The seemingly intertwined failures, achievements and burdens of the present economy under president Ruto need to be explained to the ordinary man on the street of Dandora; the banana peddlers in Kisii; the market women in Karatina, the miraa farmers in Meru, the fishermen at Lake Victoria and the Boda boda riders in Mumias. No matter how good the intentions of Mr president, people need to get involved and be informed in the business of governance.

Mr president’s foreign trips are very substantive to his foreign policy formulation, that is, to stimulate foreign investors and their governments to partner with his government in the areas of comparative advantage and national development. The achievements and the outcome of his foreign trips are what we want to see, not the flamboyant receptions of our president by the host nations. The pictures we see on social media on his foreign trips speak more than a thousand words, but we want to see this translated to economic empowerment for the people. Mr Hussein Mohamed the special advisor to the President on media should explain to us the success of Mr president’s foreign trips, and how those trips will impact positively or solve the earthly problems of his plebeians.

The government should not only be aspirational, but must be a participatory democracy where we are all involved for positive results and development of the country.

President Ruto has a lot to grapple with. He has a sincere heart with strong will and determination to remove us from our age-long socio-political and economic doldrums. He needs to be more assertive and give us deterrents for all these looters. The corrupt people will do anything to make him fail. They will use their stolen wealth to fight and influence their corrupt partners-in-crime in the judiciary. He needs to be cautious of the looters and let the common people be his shields. We need deterrents for other prospective children of corruption to have a rethink of their flamboyant lifestyles and waywardness. Kenyans are getting impatient to see culprits go to jail for stealing their common wealth. The state of economic sabotage is prevalent in Kenya, and the perpetrators of economic sabotage should not be allowed to go unpunished.

The social and print media are awash with those who want the president to fail. When you allow your enemy to define you, that is a recipe for failure. The aids to President Ruto should avoid enemies within to define the mundane efforts of his government. With the abysmal state of Kenyan infrastructures, the urgent basic and physiological needs of the people now are portable water, good roads, employment, good sleep, security, energy, uninterrupted power supply; and re-invention of our religious and social norms.

The President should be more assertive and do away with incompetent hands in his government. People are demanding for the dividends of their hard-earned change and democracy. Kenya is equipped with untapped human capital. We need active, vibrant and articulate technocrats who will make the transformational agenda of Mr President work. Kenyans are impatient and they have every right to be. The people need to be communicated with the transparent daily business of government.

The Kenyan business environment should be made business friendly and conducive to attract global trade and investment. Kenya will be a hub and destination for international trade and investments if we harness our potential and create a conducive business environment. Our power of imagination should be unleashed and tapped to eke out our hidden potentials.

As the seven-month anniversary of his government approaches, President Ruto should begin to sieve his government; begin a stocktaking of his Ministers; peruse the balance sheet of his government, and make the necessary corrections in order to realize his transformational dreams for his impatient and disgruntled people.

God bless Kenya!

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