• Bad leadership was our greatest weakness after Independence and it remains the case today.
• The right president must be a nationalist whose primary purpose will be not only to develop but also unite the country as a prerequisite for economic progress.
Without the right President, Kenya will go nowhere.
Bad leadership was our greatest weakness after Independence and it remains the case today. Without leadership, the country is like a vehicle without headlights at night. It is bound to make accidents and kill people.
So where are we in matters leadership?
We are not just a vehicle without headlights but are also a suicidal vehicle headed for the precipice sure to kill everybody on board.
How then shall we get a president who is neither blind nor suicidal? What kind of a leader do we need to survive, unite and develop ourselves from the wilderness?
First, we must have a leader who is not tribal, to unite us as the late President Julius Nyerere brought Tanzanians together.
Second, the right president must be a nationalist whose primary purpose will be, not only to develop but also unite the country as a prerequisite for economic progress.
Third, he or she needs to be a nationalist who will declare war against negative ethnicity, the ideology of our politics as an ethnically divided nation.
Fourth, the right head of state does not just need to reject negative ethnicity. He needs to embrace nationalism that will forbid ethnic alliances and coalitions, which have plunged us into our current political crisis.
Fifth, he or she must not reach out to communities by incorporating tribal leaders into national leadership, in the name of inclusivity, but by championing proportional representation across the board.
Sixth, the person should distribute public resources to every Kenyan and to every corner of the country, not by privilege but by right.
Seventh, we need an individual who will not foist himself upon his people as God, forcing them to bow, genuflect and worship him to get development and state jobs.
Eighth, the right president must not govern through terror, impoverishment, fear and silence — or be ruined and destroyed.
Ninth, a good president must define leadership to mean service to the people, especially the poorest in society, and not an opportunity for self-enrichment and ownership of the country, government and business.
Tenth, the right president should not allow his subjects and citizens to worship him or any other person who wields power. While there must be respect for all offices, that should not mean human worship that we associate with many monarchies.
Eleventh, he shall not strive to own country, government, taxes and slaves, as some presidents in the past have done to the detriment of democracy, good leadership, society and development of the country.
Twelfth, Kenya needs a leader who will embrace democracy and be a democrat, who will criticise people and accept citizens’ criticism of him. No good president shall make people fear to criticise him. A president who refuses to accept criticism by the people in good faith is a dictator.
Thirteenth: a good president shall not acquire wealth through corruption, giving people a bad example to follow. Indeed, the right leader should not do business while in office to avoid using power and influence to enrich themselves.
Fourteenth, a preferred leader will be the one who resigns when he perpetrates or fails to stop corruption, negative ethnicity, unemployment and poverty. Failure to do that, he will indeed be a dictator who will be unwilling to resign even when there is obvious evidence of failure.
Fifteenth and finally, no right president shall take his country to heaven without a good team of advisers, who will advise him to work not for himself and a few friends, but the whole country.
Sixteenth, the right president shall be the one who resigns when he perpetrates or fails to stop corruption, negative ethnicity, unemployment and poverty. He will indeed be a dictator who will be unwilling to resign even when there is obvious evidence of failure.
Finally, a good president shall resign when those he has appointed fail at work, perpetuate corruption or propagate negative ethnicity.