Leaders must now strive to deliver after protests storm

The storm is now almost over in the country and normalcy seems to be setting in if the signs are to be believed. A new Cabinet has been appointed and the appointees are currently undergoing vetting by the National Assembly.

Though these men and women are political appointees and there were murmurs in some quarters of the country, it is still a new Cabinet, which, at the end of the day, must deliver. Kenyans should give them time to work but follow their performance keenly.

Politicking day in day out is detrimental as no positive development can take place. Kenyans are demanding good roads, good education and adequate medical services. We are, however, still at that stage where those leading the country cannot claim complete success when it comes to delivery. The country has taken great strides in some areas but a lot still remains to be done. This, however, can only be done in a very tranquil atmosphere.

Losing lives and property through protests while the political leaders chest thump is not the right thing 60 years after independence. High levels of communication through dialogue between the rulers and the ruled should be developed. Pinpointing failures in government is healthy and democratic.

It is always said communication is the art of establishing commonness between the sender and the receiver and this is what Kenya needs right now. Communication is never a one-way process especially when it comes from the leaders to the citizenry.

This can only be termed as autocracy and Kenya avoided this when it embraced multi-party politics.

Though we are not out of the woods completely, we are not yet a failed State and, through focused leadership, the country can come out of the mire and become resilient again. This, however, needs a paradigm shift in the style of political leadership.

The Kenyatta and Moi administrations could manage to silence the masses in the past because theirs were an iron-fisted rule. We are, however, at a stage where public awareness of their rights is at a level where it cannot be stymied.

The larger population, which is mostly the youth, are enlightened and highly educated.

This is why they should be listened to and properly engaged. They should also be properly chaperoned and facilitated to go into self-employed. The government, though it keeps on promising, cannot a 100 percent give them white-colour jobs and this is the painful truth.

Allowing them access to funds like the youth fund and micro-financing them to enable them earn an honourable living will completely build their trust in their motherland.

The starting point, however, is for the government to ensure there is proper governance. This is possible especially when they remember that Kenyans elected them trusting that they would deliver.

Mr Kigo is an environmentalist. [email protected]