Herman Manyora: Kenya is too good to go down: Open letter to the president

By Herman Manyora,

An open letter to president William Ruto on balancing between politics and economy

Your Excellency,

I hope this letter finds you in good spirits, Mr. President, the political instability and economic heat notwithstanding. Let me tell you a great political story. Something that highly relates to you.  

In the historic US elections of 2008, two things happened. First, Barrack Obama became the first black president of the US. I remember watching this historic election from giant screens erected around the Great Court, at the University of Nairobi ground, with anxiety and great expectations; as though life depended on it. Yes we can! How I remember listening to the moving victory speech delivered by President Obama that made Oprah Winfrey shed tears on the shoulder of Jesse Jackson.

Second, his competitor, Senator John McCain, shortly before that, delivered what can be described as one of the best concession speeches ever.

In his concession speech, the late Senator noted that in the contest as long and difficult as the 2008 campaigns had been, the success of President Obama, alone, commands his respect for his ability and perseverance. McCain was in awe that Obama managed to inspire the hopes of so many millions of Americans, who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the elections of an American President.

But much more importantly, McCain, conclusively, in a manner that dashed the spirits of the millions of his supporters, embraced his former competitor by indicating that even though it is natural to feel some disappointment, today, we must move beyond it, tomorrow, and work together to get the country moving again.

Kenyan missed this John McCain moment in 2022. Many Kenyans were waiting for the loser to concede just as they were waiting for the winner to be, in the words of Winston Churchill, magnanimous in victory. Neither happened.

But, Your Excellency, I must, at this point, concede by admitting that even though I supported and voted for the Azimio candidate Raila Odinga, in the previous election, I have since moved past my shock, disappointment, and expectations. To many, maybe you included, I had a front-bench advisory role to play in the Azimio campaign considering my unwavering public support for Raila Odinga and their public policies.  Well, that is not true. In fact, I had no role in the Azimio campaign other than just being a believer in their reform agenda.

But Azimio lost. And you, Your Excellency, won. Many might want to contest but the courts and the law say otherwise. My role has since changed into a well-wisher. I support your government to the extent that it will deliver one or two things for the benefit of Kenyans.

In doing so, I, immediately after you were sworn in as President, requested you to consider working with everyone. Around that time, I, not once, requested you and or your advisors to, at least, read the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, considering the glaring similarities between you and President Lincoln. I went further to call upon you to borrow from Lincoln, who was a handler of men, and form a cabinet made up of rivals.

To move this country forward, in a way that continues inspiring hope and allaying fears, I called upon you to work with those who believed in your dream and those who didn’t. This was the surest way of allaying all fears and being magnanimous in victory. Your starting point, then, was to name a cabinet formed in the exact opposite as the one Uhuru formed in 2013. A cabinet where the presence of certain names would have surprised, if not angered, some of your close supporters and allies.

Needless to mention that this unsolicited advice was ignored.

Results? Six months later, the focus of your government has shifted from delivering on the promises made, during campaigns, to managing the politics of the day. And this is dangerous because Kenya is at a point where Kenyans need services. Kenyans, Your Excellency, need a working economy. Those in the informal sector, making up almost 80% of the working population, need free and quality health care and education.

From my “panoramic view”, I had seen, like Moses saw the promised land, that the moment your government will be drawn into managing politics, then many Kenyans will feel cheated because nothing will happen on the economic front.

However, your excellency, it must be noted that the management of politics by any government or kingdom is key. It is for this reason that Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince and dedicated it to Lorenzo de’ Medici. The Prince, which has metamorphosized into a compass for all political players, was written to guide Lorenzo de’ Medici on gaining and maintaining power.

Not in question is that, you, your excellency, already have power. But will you maintain it? I ask this question because of how dismissive you have been on managing legitimacy concerns.

Your predecessor faced serious legitimacy concerns that necessitated a handshake with the man giving your sleepless nights at the statehouse. We must not be told, but we now know that the government of Kenya has shifted all its attention to managing the opposition politicians.

Expectedly, those who supported your presidency have already ring-fenced the presidency and would not want outsiders to have a share of ‘their’ cake. Maybe unbeknown to you, Your Excellency, the presidency means more to those around you than it means to you. As such, they would stop at nothing to protect and grow their territory.

Sadly, you have been blinded to only see and reward those who supported you. Your government, according to many political observers, has become all about sycophancy and loyalty. Instinctively, your deputy has compared it to a company. And when anyone seems to ask questions on the running of your government, they are told, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”: Let them eat cake. The arrogance and bullish behavior exhibited by your lieutenant are akin to those shown by Marie Antoinette prior to the French revolution.

Be that as it may, Your Excellency, you need to handle the politics before things get out of hand. World over, the government is seen as an enemy by the people. As such, many who present themselves for election start depreciating their political value immediately after they occupy these positions of power and become government. And now, be sure, many who voted you in see you as the leader of an institution that works against their interest.

So what are your options? Not many. Unlike your predecessor, you do not have the option to have a handshake. You and your lieutenants have already bastardized the meaning and importance of the handshake and its prospects for political stability.

Either way, you have to have a compromise with the opposition. As I have argued previously, the modern-day government is subservient to society. Society is stronger and much more organized compared to the government. This, your excellency, reminds me of Samuel Huntington who authored “political order in changing societies.” In his description of praetorian states, Huntington argued that a state qualifies to be praetorian in nature once it starts manifesting weak state-society relations. He further goes on to posit that the political mobilization of society without political integration ultimately weakens the state and thus makes society stronger. This is where you are, Your Excellency.

But what do I mean by a compromise? Your Excellency, you have to bring back the Building Bridges Initiative document. As preposterous as it sounds, the BBI Constitutional Amendment Bill is your only saving grace. The BBI document will give you the latitude to engage with the opposition. My suggestion is that the government opens up the gates of Bomas of Kenya for a conversation about the constitutional amendments which will result in a referendum as soon as possible. This is the only way out of the imminent collapse of Kenya.

And, Your Excellency, Kenya is too good to go down.

This story was first published by the Standard

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