By Billy Gichohi
Kenya’s path forward demands leaders committed to nation building and certainly not slapstick impressionists. We do not need bombasts with flamboyant gestures typical of charlatans who peddle questionable salvation through beaten-path sound bites.
Today, we are perilously saturated with “leaders” whose primary qualification is affected eloquence hewn from the threadbare cloth of hackneyed mantras and battered rhetoric.
Our most vocal oppositionists are not the saviours they pretend to be. In fact, they are no more than snake-oil salesmen of the political bazaar with a “messiah complex” that hardly conceals their populist posturing.
Theirs is a corrosive form of populism driven by personal ambition, not genuine vision. Yet, what Kenya desperately needs just now is true statesmanship. Our opposition demagogues are merchants of deceit powered by an intoxicating brew of grievance and grandiose promise.
They master the art of the scapegoat, directing public fury towards convenient targets while offering simplistic and often unachievable, solutions. Their language is a weaponised poetry designed to inflame and divide.
They trade in absolutes with their characteristic rhetoric laden with rehearsed chants that float in the paddles of resentment. Their “eloquence” is mere sophistry clad with a dazzling display of words that signify the desire for adulation and control.
They posture as tribunes of the people while building personal fiefdoms in the echo chambers of their own flattery. Contrast this with the quiet, resolute power of a quintessential statesperson defined by the depth of their character and the clarity of their purpose.
They possess, one, the intellectual rigour and foresight that enables them the ability to grapple with complexity while always seeking evidence-based solutions instead of crowd-pleasing slogans. They understand that sustainable development requires long-term strategy, not quick fixes announced casually in public gatherings and they think in terms of generations, not electoral cycles.
Two, statespersons are identifiable by their moral anchoring and integrity, their efforts ever leaning towards achieving a nation’s enduring communal good not factional or pyrrhic victory. They embody principles that may cause momentary inconvenience, sometimes becoming unpopular but their actions align with their proclaimed values.
Three, statesmen and women are unifiers. They speak the language of nationhood while seeking to bridge divides rather than exploit them. They understand that strength lies in its diversity and therefore work to foster inclusive patriotism while building consensus and respect for institutions. They engage with adversaries constructively and regard governance as the art of the possible forged through dialogue.
Four, statesmen and stateswomen possess the courage to make difficult, even unpopular decisions when necessary for the nation’s long-term health. They stand firm in the face of pressure, guided by conviction rather than shifting winds of public opinion or the seductive lure of populist applause. They weather storms with grace, their focus riveted to national interest.
Five, a well-grounded statesman or woman is humble. He or she eschews the trappings of personality cult, recognising that his or her calling is greater than the individual. Such are those that listen more than they lecture, learn continuously, and surround themselves with competence, not sycophancy.
We face largely inherited multifaceted crises that demand more than simplistic sloganeering. Our challenges as a people are not solvable by charismatic pronouncements or the recycling of tired, divisive rhetoric.
They demand analytical depth, policy precision, collaborative spirit, and unwavering ethical commitment. These attributes are the very essence of statesmanship. The typical demagogue often offers the seductive simplicity any random mob can buy. He or she points fingers, promising the moon, and stoking the fires of division while creating a comforting narrative of victimhood.
Demagogues are fundamentally, weathervanes, spinning directionless in the winds of popular sentiment but incapable of navigating by the fixed stars of principle and long-term strategy.
Kenya is weary of political circus. We are exhausted by leaders who arrive draped in the borrowed robes of revolution, only to reveal the same threadbare ambitions beneath. The yearning across this nation is palpable in the quiet conversations of markets, matatus, and homes. The current quest is not for messianic figures peddling miracle cures, but for sober, competent, and principled leadership.
Kenya’s potential is immense, but its realisation hinges on the quality of its leadership. It is time to reject the merchants of illusion and demand for architects of substance. We need statesmen and stateswomen but not scruffy individuals peddling recycled banalities.
Our future deserves nothing less.
Gichohi is a Nairobi-based politics enthusiast working for an international organisation supporting small-scale farmers undertaking transformative projects in East Africa
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