OKECH KENDO: Reality check for wannabe presidents

The easy path to the presidency is deluded ambition that defies reason. But passion and ambition for high office are not even key requirements for the job.

Some people entertain illusions of grandeur during their wishful moments. They see themselves enjoying high-powered security, as the lead tenant in State House, the commander-in-chief, head of state, head of government, chief executive of a 47-million strong shareholding corporation, and a symbol of national unity.

This dream is not valid for many.

There is also the tested pathway to State House. There is mobilisation acumen that takes decades to build. Getting the masses to buy into your vision requires massive resources, international networks, and, to an extent, the goodwill of the ‘Deep State’.

Sympathy, sulking, and bitterness don’t count.

This goodwill has been critical in recent, muddled presidential elections. Greek historian Thucydides might have been talking about the election bungling Kenya when he says: “The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.”

The weak cast the vote, the powerful count the vote and then declare results. The powerful consists of people whose private motives are disguised as public interest. They are the Establishment—a nexus of interests, or stakeholders and steakholders.

Ten months to the presidential election, the polity is teeming with would-be presidents, trying all sorts of gigs. Some have fighting chances of being the winner and best loser. Other also-runs will be weeping in toilets, as they contemplate the path to terminal oblivion.

Some are still playing hard to get, hoping for a bargain in money terms. Or some other positions within snorting distance of power. Some are running because they are sulking, tired of playing second fiddle.

Power is rarely given, it is earned. Those who would earn it must have a record of measurable and verifiable national achievements, feats and trophies of personal sacrifices. Higher sacrifices for the good of the country at a cost to their own security.

Then there is documented consistency in advancing the national good. Robert F Kennedy, in a June 6, 1966, address at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, said: “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.”

Some presidential aspirants are aiming for the sun, hoping they can reach the moon. Such, is the frame of mind that inspires deluded ambition. This earns the victims the spoiler moniker.

Some presidential aspirants are being forced to the guillotine by their lackeys. Their inciters have seen a coat to hang on to win their governor, parliamentary, senatorial or other minor seats.

They need a godhead on whose ambition they want to ride to cheat the home turf that their son has a chance of winning the presidential race in 2022.

Wannabe presidents clearly need reality check.

Others are deluded victims of untampered ambitions. Most of them do not want to see the signs of the times, or put their ears to the wall, to listen to the beats of the moment.

Supporters of a Raila Odinga presidency call it a ‘Mandela Moment’. The late Nelson Mandela was a transitional president from apartheid South Africa from 1994. Mandela and Raila are history-markers – a history of personal sacrifices.

The ambition queue is long and growing, but only one or two of the 10 or so aspirants will be close to the presidency 10 months from now.

Most will fizzle out, with an additional line on their curriculum vitae – former presidential candidate. They will have burnt a lot of money on chasing a mirage.