Mr President, it is not their fault they won't see what you've done

It must disappoint President Uhuru Kenyatta that despite all the effort he has put to transform the country, so much seems unaccomplished. At least going by those who think the country is heading in the wrong direction. Thanks to a cynical public and to a large extent some bungling subordinates.
Poor Uhuru reminds me of the story of an English sailor.
A story is told of a man who went out on a sailing expedition in the 19th Century. When he went back home after being separated from his wife for months, he took with him a piece of gold for her.
At home, his wife ran to him with her hands outstretched.
"So lovely to be home," he said, "and guess what I brought you... a piece of gold, the most precious metal in the world," he said, handing the precious gift to her.
She picked it from his palm and threw it out of the window.
"What have you done?" he bellowed.
"You saw what I did... I asked you to get me an Italian handkerchief," she roared back and walked away sobbing and collapsed in a heap by the fireside.
Obviously, this is not where we are, but it is evident that the relationship between Mr Kenyatta and most of his subjects is strained.
But are things that much out of kilter and is Uhuru's Kenya tottering? I don't think so. Though the economy is not doing the "double-digit" they promised in 2013, at nearly 6 per cent, it is above the average growth across the sub-Sahara Africa region. Quite impressive actually.

Yet with two months to go on his presidency, why are many looking at the glass as half-empty? By any measure, Jubilee's isn't the worst regime. But it could nevertheless have done better.

When one looks at the 2017 Jubilee set, one feels a lack of something; besides it not being the well-oiled machine that it was (complete with sleek PR and messaging), its narrative is not as compelling as it was in 2013.

Jubilee seems to suffer from what PNU did in 2007 as it beat back the ODM wave sweeping across the country. Then, a political pundit wrote that PNU was talking to the mind while ODM was talking to the heart.

So yes, all the high-sounding talk about free laptops for primary school children, free primary education, the SGR, the success of the Eurobond, the bountiful investment in energy, the tarmacked roads doesn't arouse voters in the same way as NASA does with its talk about equitable distribution of wealth, curing corruption and bridging the deep tribal rifts. In short, NASA's proposals offer instant gratification.

Indeed, the implausible rise of NASA boils down to a combination of factors and none of them being that NASA offers anything better than we have heard before. In fact, NASA's script mirrors the 2002 Narc jamboree that ended in disappointment soon after.

Here's how Jubilee has slowly, but surely lost the plot. Earlier on through 2013 to 2016, the odds were all stacked against CORD. In fact, CORD was in perpetual disarray. Mr Ruto's description of a "planless and leaderless outfit" describes CORD at the time. Not anymore.
In that time, Jubilee, convinced that the loose coalition of Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka was no match for them, sat on its laurels and instead of consolidating its base and bringing more to its fold, it seemingly went into self-destruct mode.
Everyone was an enemy to be vanquished. And didn't they wage unnecessary battles?
They disparaged the Civil Service and depicted it as an obstruction to the Jubilee agenda? To fight an anachronistic institution like the Kenyan Civil Service needed more tact, less a 700-word opinion. Then it unleashed Social Media warriors on everyone and anyone. The war of attrition to dislodge Manoah Esipisu, the head of the PSCU, a man seen as a Johnny-come-lately also worked to distract Jubilee.
But perhaps one of the needless fights Jubilee ever waged and they could be ruing it, was with the media.
Despite all its shortcomings, the Fourth Estate is a dependable ally; by holding the feet of leaders to the fire, it instills common sense when they get carried away.

It is a force for good in a democracy. Engaging them in fights leaves little time for your good stories as Donald Trump is learning in the US.

Mr Kipkemboi is the OpEd Editor at The Standard

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