Kenya is in the throes of a crushing drought that is decimating parts of the country.
Several news sources have reported of families forcing girls into child marriages to make ends meet.
Families' asset base, in form of livestock, have been wiped out by drought. Insecurity is rampant in such areas, with dozens of people having lost lives to "banditry" or "regular crime" in the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, families across the income spectrum are struggling to make ends meet in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.
When times are as tough as they are today, one hopes that fate produces politicians who can rise to the challenge of telling people the truth and honestly discussing necessary steps to make things better ugently.
Unfortunately, what we have is a cast of politicians whose favourite pastime is not problem-solving but problem-compounding.
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That is why our solution to runaway public debt and a shrinking fiscal space is to tax already overburdened wananchi, while also creating positions for Chief Administrative Secretaries.
Do we really need the CASs with this kind of economy? An economy struggling with a bloated wage bill?
It is also why when we realised the 8-4-4 system was not working optimally, we destroyed the basic education system.
The Kenya Kwanza administration has been in office for less than six months. For that reason, they still deserve some benefit of the doubt.
It is true that they inherited an economy battered by ten years of Jubilee incompetence, a pandemic, and global inflationary pressures. However, the leadership of the administration should know their honeymoon will not last forever. Kenyans will soon start demanding real results.
To deliver and earn the public trust, the government needs focus.
It cannot afford to be distracted by unforced errors by loose-mouthed Cabinet Secretaries or fighting unnecessary culture wars.
In these difficult times, what Kenyans want is a laser focus on their material wants and a broad-based commitment to protecting everyone's personal liberties regardless of their identity or political views.
One of the reasons many Kenyans admired President Mwai Kibaki, despite his imperfections, is that he did not dabble in the humiliation of his fellow politicians or sticking it to marginalised groups. He just did his job. That is all we are asking of this administration: do your job!
The writer is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University