There is no magic wand and no quick fixes as William Ruto takes charge

President William Ruto takes instruments of power from immediate former president Uhuru Kenyatta. [PSCU, Standard] Comments following Kenya's recently concluded general elections give the impression of a Dickensian plot. For many, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity." Yet this maelstrom of emotional upheaval is understandable because every Kenyan equally gains or losses from good or bad leadership. When it comes to the political class, there are winners and losers. That is a legitimate expectation of any democratic election. The winner forms the Government while the runner-up becomes the head of the Opposition. Both have important roles to play. One runs the country while the other leads a team that offers necessary checks and balances to the other. The same team serves as an alternative government in waiting. For those forming the Government, these are the best of times. Everybody loves a winner. It is interesting how President William Ruto's erstwhile bitter foes are now falling all over themselves to pledge their support. Some have dissociated themselves from statements that they swore. The more honest ones have recanted their positions and now acknowledge that indeed, Ruto has outsmarted them politically. Perhaps this is the age of wisdom for them. But such is the artifice of politics; that the bitterest vituperation and the foulest language is only skin deep. It does not cut to the heart. And the converse is true; that the praise singers and the loudest court poets would, in the blink of an eye, stab one in the back in an "et tu Brute?" moment. Nowhere is it clearer than in the statements of some politicians who now accuse retired president Uhuru Kenyatta of chicanery. They accuse him of "a long con game" in favour of the Kenya Kwanza party yet just a month ago, they were vociferous in their adulation, lauding him for his Azimio party support. Is this not the age of foolishness? Many are sanguine about a Ruto presidency. Perhaps for them, it is an epoch of belief. There is certainly something believable about a man who, barely two years ago, started a political party that has become a juggernaut. It has rolled over well-established figures dispatching some to political oblivion. It has routed the Azimio party in a decisive win that has since been ratified by the highest court in the land. Ruto comes into his presidency without baggage. He does not have any "kumi yangu, kumi yake" promises dangling over him like the sword of Damocles. With both Houses of Parliament in the control of his Kenya Kwanza party, he now has the wherewithal to execute his agenda. But no one should be under any illusions that the challenge of fixing an economy in parlous straits will be a walk in the park. There is no magic wand; there are no quick fixes to the systemic rot that has been allowed to fester over the past ten years. However, there are low-hanging fruits that will earn Ruto the approbation of Kenyans in the short term. The first of these is lancing the boil of official corruption. Because the country is still fissured along party lines, Ruto may have to balance his steely Magufuli disposition with his Nelson Mandela charm. He should not make the mistake of his predecessor by appearing to use the criminal justice system to settle political scores. Yet no quarter should be given to both friend and foe indicted in corrupt practices. Second, the president will want to move with urgency to lower the cost of basic needs. Subsidizing fertilizer and seed and stabilizing the prices of fuel is a good starting point. There is something unseemly about some senior counsels excoriating the apex court from the court of public opinion. Even more so when they disparage the Supreme Court in the same tone and timbre they find offensive. Is that not the epoch of incredulity? Kafafa is a Public Policy Analyst

There is no magic wand and no quick fixes as William Ruto takes charge

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There is no magic wand and no quick fixes as William Ruto takes charge

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