President William Ruto has challenged leaders to always make the right decisions even if they prove to be unpopular choices for Kenyans.
The President said Kenyans elected them to lead, serve and make a difference in their lives and transform the country.
Ruto said leaders who cannot be serious with their work should consider switching careers to something else like being comedians.
"We are not elected to be popular, if you want to continuously be popular don't be a leader, be something else," the President said.
He was speaking on Wednesday at the KICC in Nairobi during the official launch of the National Road Safety Action Plan by NTSA.
"There is an opportunity to be popular all the time for people to clap for you all the time; be a comedian, that way you don't have to struggle, people will clap and laugh at what you are saying and you will continue to be popular," the President said.
He said he will never tell a leader to do the popular thing but rather implore them to do the right thing even if it means facing backlash.
"For those who have the opportunity to lead, let us do the right thing. It may not necessarily be popular but the right thing will get us to the right place, we will never go wrong by doing the right thing."
The President said leaders who want to do convenient things are the ones dragging the country back.
Ruto expressed his commitment to ensuring the proper execution of the National Road Safety Action Plan by providing resources and legal frameworks as he called for concerted efforts among ministries and other stakeholders.
The President said Kenyans are looking forward to the results after the launch of the plan and that leaders should aim to deliver.
He directed the Ministry of Transport to cut down the number of road accidents by fifty per cent within one year.
"The numbers have not been coming down instead they have been going up, every year the numbers have been going up," he said, while directing Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to take charge.
"The CS and your team, the numbers have to come down. The template on how they should come down is known and practised everywhere," the President said.
He further directed traffic police and the National Transport and Safety Authority to work together to enhance safety on the roads.
The President acknowledged that for a long time, there has been a disconnect and competition between the two agencies in terms of enforcement of traffic rules, something he blamed for the failure to achieve the desired results.
