As a young leader, I wish to share with you some insights after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared you winner of the August 8 elections.

Mr President, you must remember leadership is an activity, not a position. It involves cultivating a shared vision, commitment to work and creating inspiration across different factions to deliver the promises you made.

Kenyans have high expectations, particularly on your ability to eradicate problems the country is facing. Over the last five years, you have improved service delivery and infrastructure. However, greater challenges await you. Focusing on two key challenges - the high cost of living and corruption - is imperative.


Mr President, Kenya needs leaders committed to the common good. Your ability to intervene skilfully is critical now more than ever. Solving challenges such as unemployment, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water and affordable healthcare calls for servant leadership. Your leadership journey has just begun.

First, you need self-awareness; knowing your strengths and vulnerabilities. Also, knowing how Kenyans perceive you is key to leadership.

During one of the governance and accountability summits at State House, you said you had done everything to end corruption but the vice had refused to go away. Mr President, greater accountability starts with you.

You must ensure that everyone - Cabinet and principal secretaries, governors and MPs - are accountable. Despite efforts to improve access to quality education, there are children learning under trees. Some Standard Six public primary schools pupils cannot spell simple words. Remember what Albert Einstein once said: "If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions."

Moreover, you need genuine advisers who can reliably and clearly tell you what is wrong and right and give you honest opinions and analyses. You will need to listen more, understand and inspire a collective purpose for a common good.

At the core of leadership are energised and active citizens. You need to create more platforms that invite Kenyans to dream and contribute towards a shared vision and purpose.

Finally, leadership is about building transparent, responsive and effective Government institutions.