Here are some hard questions for those who want our votes

Cord leader Raila Odinga addresses a public rally at Kinango, Kwale County, on September 22, 2016. A basic test for me is that anyone asking for my vote must have the basic qualifications in terms of education, skills, and experience. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • We want those who understand that leadership is a calling and a service, not an avenue for looting and self-enrichment.
  • Equally important, he or she must be honest, morally upright, humble, and totally unimpeachable on the ethics and integrity front.

With some 314 days to go before the General Election, all of us ought to be giving serious consideration to the type of leaders we want.

I start on the assumption that we will all want to exercise our constitutional right and moral obligation to vote.

Widespread disappointment and disillusion over the performance of our elected leaders seems to be prompting many to declare that they will not bother to vote.

However, not voting amounts to a vote for the candidate you would otherwise reject.

Let us resolve right now that we will all register as voters and dutifully cast our ballots when the time comes.

Before we troop to the polling stations, however, we must keenly scrutinise those asking us to entrust them with leadership.

I think we all want to elect leaders who will offer, not just campaign promises, but can deliver on our demands.

We want those who understand that leadership is a calling and a service, not an avenue for looting and self-enrichment.

A basic test for me is that anyone asking for my vote must have the basic qualifications in terms of education, skills, and experience.

Equally important, he or she must be honest, morally upright, humble, and totally unimpeachable on the ethics and integrity front.

The slightest suspicion of corruption, land-grabbing, theft, nepotism, appropriation of public property, or destruction of institutions leads to automatic disqualification.

PROGRESS?

The candidate must also be a nationalist and patriot who will not appeal to ethnic jingoism or incite hate and fear.

The candidate must have a forward-looking vision and a plan for the development of my constituency.

Development in this case refers not just to railways, highways, footpaths, schools, dispensaries, and all the other physical things we see and use but also peace, harmony, inclusion, and equity.

I have many constituencies, but I would like to start with Nairobi, a cosmopolitan microcosm of Kenya that for decades has suffered poor leadership.

Governor Evans Kidero, so far, seems to have little competition for the ODM-Cord ticket despite his underwhelming performance.

He is looking on a motley bunch of aspirants engaged in furious competition for the Jubilee ticket.

They include the likes of Senator Mike Sonko, MPs Dennis Waweru and Johnson Sakaja, former MP Margaret Wanjiru, Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, and former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende.

Also in the mix is outspoken political activist Miguna Miguna, former Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia, and controversial tycoon John Harun Mwau.

CHECKLIST

I have a simple check list for each of them:

•Have you ever been charged, convicted, investigated, or mentioned adversely in connection with a criminal offence?

•Have you ever been linked to theft of funds or appropriation of land and other public assets?

•Have you ever been involved in mismanagement and destruction of State corporations?

•Have you ever, in public or private, displayed bad behaviour and lack of civility?

•If elected, how long will it take you to drive pirate transport operators out of business by establishing an efficient, reliable, and clean city-wide commuter transport network?

•How long will it take you to make redundant private water vendors by ensuring clean piped water to every home?

•How long will it take to push the garbage collection cartels out of business by ensuring an effective and efficient waste collection and disposal system?

•What incentives do you have for commercial, industrial, and manufacturing concerns willing to set up shop in Nairobi?

•How much time will you require to bring city health and education institutions to required capacity and standards?

•What is your programme for repossession and reconstruction of playgrounds, social halls, and other disappearing amenities?

•What is your plan for affordable and decent middle and lower-class housing?

•How soon will you tackle the problem of the growing number of the homeless and associated crime, and the need to remove urchins from the streets and place them in rehabilitation centres?

When you have answered these questions, come over and ask for my vote.

[email protected]. Twitter: @MachariaGaitho