Raila, Azimio new game plan will flop

Azimio leader Raila Odinga addresses Azimio supporters at Jacaranda Grounds in Embakasi East on Sunday, January 29, 2023. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Every country is as great as the leadership its bequeaths itself. History is replete with case studies of countries that had nothing to talk about in terms of natural resources but which today stand tall in the league of successful nations. They have secured their people from internal and external strife; they have availed food and jobs and their men and women are assured of the promise of upward social mobility as long as they are willing to put in the work.

Today, we are in a spot that is precarious at best and explosive at worst. There is a potent cocktail of steep economic decline and fragile political fault lines. But was it supposed to be this way? I wouldn't answer in the affirmative but I would say that what is true for individuals is also true for countries. We are the total sum of our choices, the opportunities we seized, and the challenges we rose to rather than shrank from. That is why our leaders, particularly the political class must now ask themselves these questions: How will that affect the average Kenyan? How will tax increase affect the average Kenyan? How will austerity measures affect the average Kenyan? How will demonstrations affect the average Kenyan?