The true Kenyan Leaders........YOU!

I am sick and tired of our politicians, our So Called Leaders (SCL’s) masquerading as the champions of the people for their own selfish motives and to settle personal scores. I am tired of people who believe that they are the “do all and the know all” of Kenyans needs and wants our SCL’s. I am tired of school yard bullies pretending to be SCL’s and demanding that I address them as “Honorable” or “Mheshimiwa” a term reserved for people who have earned my respect and who should be role models that you would want you children to emulate yet collectively the current lot are possibly the worst and sorriest excuse for SCL’s that this country has ever seen! I am tired of our SCL’s asking rude questions such as “do you know me” and taking umbrage when you tell them that you wouldn’t care less and don’t wish to in any case and who talk at you and not with you!

I am tired of SCL’s who have poor educational backgrounds, questionable (and possibly criminal) backgrounds, corruption allegations against them and who steal and impoverish the very people that they claim to represent and who only go back to the electorate and play the tribal card come election time and are thick headed enough to wear a cloak of spirituality and attend church with you and me every Sunday.

I am tired of our SCL’s who vote themselves all kinds of tax free salaries and allowances, amenities, security, vehicles, foreign trips and so on paid for by the ordinary Kenyan taxpayer yet have the temerity to ask the government to assist the people when one calamity or another befalls the ordinary mwananchi. I am also exhausted by too many stories in our mainstream press as well as the fringe press about the excesses of our SCL’s and the “holier than thou” attitude portrayed by the journalists who while claiming to report objectively are a part of the propagation system of obtaining news worthy stories and highlighting all the negative issues of the day. 

I am tired of very many things in the political system in my country Kenya but I am also tired of the apathy and complacency portrayed by the Kenyan populace. People JUST LIKE ME AND YOU whether black skinned, white skinned, red skinned or anything in between who have struggled to make a meaningful life for themselves, have demonstrated leadership qualities in their employment or private business, are outstanding role models to their children, peers and society at large and are trusted by his employers, families and colleagues anywhere in this country. People who open their doors to the poor, the sick and the downtrodden of society.

These are KENYANS and leaders in their own right - tried, tested and proven - who would make a difference to the destiny of this nation by opting to go for elective political office. People able to articulate their views not through tribal blinkers but through a nationalistic and rational approach. A person who has no qualms that despite having his ancestral routes in Karachuonyo has no problem selling his views in Garsen, Ekalakala or Modogashe. A person unfettered by tribal inclinations, having no hint of scandal or criminal culpability behind them or numerous skeletons in their closet. A person who loves another for who they are and not because of their ancestral roots, their racial backgrounds or the color of their skin. A person who exercises his rights to vote religiously, not because his tribesman is being voted for but because without his vote some sorry excuse of an individual would be voted into Parliament.

We as Kenyan people have only ourselves to blame for the leaders that we have given birth to today through our votes, yet we have people of the caliber I talk about right in our midst. We have Luhya DO’s and DC’s that people listen to and respect as leaders in Taita Taveta, Kikuyu businessmen who employ many and are recognized as respected leaders in Kapenguria, Luo headmasters in rural Transmara who are consulted by the local Maasai population on all manner of issues from the personal to the mundane, Asian businessmen in Meru running industries where they have invested millions for the good of the local community and who are known and respected by them, Mijikenda Bank Managers in Uasin Gishu who are consulted far and wide and recognized and respected by even the local administration, European Kenyans leasing conservancy areas in Amboseli & Masai Mara and employing advanced conservation practices and building schools and dispensaries that benefit the local Maasai, a Kisii pastor with a huge following in far flung Migori – the list is endless and the same is happening day in day out with Kenyans in the diaspora all over the world in academics, business, spiritual nourishment, industry, politics etc.

These are the TRUE LEADERS. In each of the above cases why do these true leaders with a track record where they are excelling choose to go back to stand for elective positions where their ancestral and tribal roots are (save for the Asians and Europeans)? Because Kenyans believe only their tribe can see that they can be political leaders and because politicians know this they drum up tribal sentiments when they see a Kuria wishing to take up the mantle of political leadership in Marsabit, an Asian wishing to get elected in Gucha, a Kalenjin wanting to represent the people of Bungoma etc and ask the locals to reject them as they are “outsiders”.

Shame on you Kenyan true leaders for allowing yourself to be disenfranchised from your developmental record because of your ancestry and shame on you political bullies for relying on tribalism to propagate yourself at the expense of development of your communities by the true leaders and exiling the true leaders to their communities!! You true leaders have proven yourself time and time again where you live, work and invest. You have invested time, sweat, and financial resources building yourself, your employees and your adopted communities. You have become known as a pillar of logic and reason where you are based yet choose to go down the beaten tribal path for political expediency. This is a bitter pill that we all must swallow - both the true leaders and the political bullies - collectively.

It is time to reject such divisive bullies who appeal to tribe and accept the true leaders for what they are. How many times have you true leaders looked at the political bullies as they posture, swagger and foam at the mouth and thought “Hmmm…………………I think I could do it better”. Many of you I am sure……….me included!  It is also time for the minority groups who think that their voices will not make a difference to the outcome of an election to get off their pampered butts and participate as true leaders and vote at all elections and add their voices to the din of the political environment surrounding them. My fellow Asian and European Kenyans, this means you……………with all due respect to the few who do participate!!

Employers must of necessity allow those of their staff with true leadership potential time off to make a mark wherever they are by not forcing them to resign if they opt to aspire for positions of political leadership because if their employees do become political leaders, then the economy and their businesses will also thrive.

Lets us learn that where we come from does not matter. It is where we are going to that matters. Leadership is earned not forced on the altar of tribalism! True leadership is to be found among the people already making a difference wherever they may have chosen to settle, do business and raise their families and they must accept that their record already speaks for them.

So come the next election and you see a strange lion amongst leopards in your neighborhood asking that you vote for him because of his agenda for you…........that is me, a true leader who has coexisted with you, has been honest with you, helped you when I could, who has mourned with you when you lose your loved ones and celebrated with you when your children are getting married.!!!