Ruto is on right course, young people should keep the faith

President William Ruto at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Kangeta Market, Igembe, Meru County. [PCS] To all the young people out there who may be seduced and won over by the pessimism that is so prevalent out there at this very moment, do not despair. For as the good book says, do not let your heart be troubled for nothing. If you go through your social media newsfeeds, I know there is very little to give you the assurance that Ship Kenya will sail to safety. Truth is, it will, in part because of the resilience of the people and also the strength of our commander in chief. Let me explain. There is no human enterprise that flows seamlessly through and through. As we have seen, the good intentions of the President have suffered a few setbacks which demonstrates that they can be perfected to ultimately carry the aspirations of the people. If someone tells you that Kenya Kwanza will be a one-term administration, remind them that there is a reason we designed one term to last five years and not one year. It's an established practice in democracies that a scorecard is given to elected officials at the end of the term. Further and significantly, democracy by its very design, is that decisions are made in compromise. This can sometimes slow down the process or make it susceptible to both manipulation and sabotage. The saving grace is that the people of Kenya, particularly the young, know better and will always stand up in defence of their country. Any leader who takes it upon himself to rise beyond easy solutions and conventional wisdom must contend with the blow back from the status quo. Not long ago, when a young senator was elected into the presidency of the United States of America and the whole world chorused 'Yes we can'', we quickly witnessed the forces of status quo mobilise against him in the shape and form of what was called 'Tea Party'. That formation fundraised and mobilised and marched in bid to stop the programmes of that young president but in the end, the electorate knew who was on their side. Facts and history demonstrate that leaders who are vilified vehemently at the beginning of their term could be doing something right. Let's look at a few examples. When President Mwai Kibaki came into office and introduced ETR machines, people protested and lamented that he was overtaxing the people. When we speak of how Kibaki raised revenue collection, let's remember that it was not a popular decision at the moment. The political class in their rancour even described him as Mr see nothing, hear nothing and feel nothing. Today, whereas the Martin Luther King Jnr is universally respected for his stand on civil rights movement in America, he was wildly unpopular at that time. While as citizens we must keep the government in check by remaining active, we must be on the lookout for the purveyors of despondency who are keen on nothing else but to use politics and the power it can avail to serve private ends at the expense of the people. We had two options when the Kenya Kwanza administration was sworn in; administer an analgesic to badly hemorrhaging wound that was the economy or to scrub off abscess from the wound and treat it and dress it up. While the first option would have had very minimal unpleasantness in the short term, the wound would have exacerbated and as we all know about crises, we would have someday possibly had to deal with a much bigger, devastating crisis than anything our minds have conceived as yet. On the other hand, we could do something akin to what President Daniel arap Moi did in the wake of structural adjustment programme of early 1990s; embark on unpopular but necessary, painful measures in the short term and lay the foundation for investment that can see the private sector thrive again. The president in his wisdom chose the latter. I support him and I know history will be kinder to him. He is politically sophisticated enough to cut through the noise and humane enough to always remember why he is our commander in chief. Mr Kidi is the convener of Inter-parties Youth Forum. kidimwaga@gmail.com

Ruto is on right course, young people should keep the faith

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