Alternative leadership philosophy needed to set country on right path

President William Ruto during inauguration at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi. [File, Standard]

As the country keen follows the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's impeachment process, a looming question is what philosophy is needed to address the widespread deficit of trust between the establishment and the citizenry. While the impeachment debate has taken various forms of political isolation and punishment, three fundamental aspects explain the source of the palpable deficit of trust. First is the preponderance of personalities at the expense of replacing the governing philosophy, secondly the over-reliance on political reactives as opposed to political strategy, and third the early entry into regime survival mode of governance instead of diversification of political assets.

The presidential inauguration speech provided an opportunity for setting a new governance order and philosophy. While the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda served as the ambition, the vehicle to carry out this vision was hardly spoken about. The President failed to articulate which tasks of his vision would be delivered by the functioning civil service bureaucracy and the tasks that would be delivered by the political class to be appointed in Cabinet, diplomatic corps, office of the President and others strewn across the public service rank and file as board members and chairpersons across various State parastatals. Two years down the line, there is a no clear line of implementation because of conflicting interpretation of how the Bottom-up agenda serves the country and not just the well-connected few. This is as a result of lack of a single cohesive governing philosophy. Such a philosophy would articulate and enable well defined consultation and prompt corrective measures.