President William Ruto delivers his speech during first anniversary celebrations of Hustler Fund in Nairobi.
Hypothetically speaking, if I were the President, I would ask myself how to run the country to the people’s satisfaction after a barrage of criticisms.
However, that does not seem to be the case in Kenya. Instead, the President has chosen to fight back than use a conciliatory tone and the desire to listen and change his tactics to appease the nation.
With the many advisors surrounding the President, I would have hoped that a more diplomatic language would have been the approach.
You don’t add fuel to the fire with inflammatory statements and decrees. Every tone-deaf response from State House is making a bad situation worse. Victim blaming is not solving the abduction culture that has become so entrenched in the country.
To suggest that victims are in Airbnb for sexual trysts or that they may have abducted themselves does not explain the rise in hooded men driving around in big white cars pulling Kenyans off the streets and from homes.
The government should stop gaslighting and take some responsibility on abduction and extrajudicial killings.There is a way to talk to mothers whose children are missing and presumed dead.
Given the rise in abductions and deaths of young people since June 2024, every young person missing is a harrowing experience for families. The grief sets in before even bodies are found.
The emotional vortex families live in before finding their loved ones after they are abducted in Kenya is unimaginable. This also goes for families of foreigners abducted in Kenya.
Telling parents that they should have taught their children better while they are grieving is the coldest approach that no leader should pursue. It shows lack of compassion and empathy with fellow parents.
The grief is no less only because it is the children of ordinary citizens who are missing and found dead. If the politicians’ children were the subject of abductions and murders, the language would probably be more compassionate and vengeful so that politicians can get swift justice for their children.
What stops the President and other politicians to be more empathetic but the quest to put power above the welfare of the voters!
I would like to tell the current crop of politicians that sycophancy, intimidation, abductions and murders as modi operandi to cling to power is nothing new.
It has been done in many countries before and it does not paint a good picture of leaders who rely on dirty tricks to stay in power. It does not make them immortal either.
Power is as transient as the human behind the power. The likes of Franco, the late brutal dictator of Spain, ruled by repression and many Spanish people were abducted, tortured and disappeared and many more buried in secret mass graves. Like Hitler of Germany, Mobutu of former Zaire, Franco met death and never lived to enjoy power in perpetuity.
Leadership with bloodied hands has an expiry date perhaps more than a leadership guided by integrity, respect for human life and public service.
The latter is perhaps also more beneficial to the descendants of politicians. It is easy to be insular as a politician, as power and wealth can be blinding, leading to myopia.
This means, it is easy to focus on the short-term life of a politician, than a long-term one as a civilian for you and particularly your children.
Creating a conducive environment for all is by extension creating a conducive environment for your children too, to secure a brighter future for them.
Many a politician who are nasty, dictatorial and myopic in their views, tend to overlook the impact their character can have on their children who end up orphans before their dictatorial politician parent dies, as no one is keen to associate with them.
As a leader, the least the President can do is not argue back with Kenyans but reassure and rebuild faith in his government.
He needs to review the workings of the inner sanctum of his government and ask himself whether those around him are giving him the right advice or are creating a wedge between him and the citizens.
There are also too many senior officials engaged in using inflammatory language and riling Kenyans than working. That is not why taxpayers are paying them for.
The buck stops with the President on abductions and all the things going wrong in the country. His loyalty should be with the people who voted for him and not the hungry few misleading him for their selfish interests.
Chest thumping by some of his foot soldiers is rubbing Kenyans the wrong way at a time that they need to be made to feel safe at home and on the streets.
Simply put, the President should use the criticism and satire to shape up his government and focus on building the country. Wasting time defending the indefensible is causing unnecessary pain.
Let abductions be the thing of the past and focus the government efforts on peace and security of Kenyans and bolster the weakening economy.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher, [email protected], @kdiguyo
