What professionals will save this country?

• Yes, we all looked forward to the day Mr Mwai Kibaki would be Kenya’s President and once wished the then Young Turks would become part of our government as Cabinet ministers to bring more democracy and enlightenment.
• So what do we have now that our dreams came true? Is President Kibaki a politician or a professional? What about Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, Prof Sam Ongeri, and many others?
• These men are all distinguished professionals in their chosen fields and are also the leading lights of the current leadership.
• Yet does anything today show evidence that President Kibaki is an economist, or that his Cabinet is full of so-called professionals?

There is a popular notion that Kenya’s “professionals” are good people compared to politicians who are ruining the country.

It is time “professionals woke up to snatch this country from the grip of politicians”, wrote John Mbaria (DN, August 13), echoing Prof James ole Kiyiapi, who is advancing this argument in his presidential campaign.

This sentiment was especially strong during former President Moi’s leadership, for he lined the government with many unschooled people leading to wanton inefficiency, corruption and waste of public resources, which laid the ground for our poverty and political instability.

It is then that Kenyans yearned for return to professional leadership where public offices would go to the academically qualified and ministerial positions taken up by people who purportedly “know the stuff”.

Yes, we all looked forward to the day Mr Mwai Kibaki would be Kenya’s President and once wished the then Young Turks would become part of our government as Cabinet ministers to bring more democracy and enlightenment.

So what do we have now that our dreams came true? Is President Kibaki a politician or a professional? What about Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, Prof Sam Ongeri, and many others?

These men are all distinguished professionals in their chosen fields and are also the leading lights of the current leadership. Yet does anything today show evidence that President Kibaki is an economist, or that his Cabinet is full of so-called professionals?

Come to think of it, who would have thought that after 10 years of a Kibaki presidency, Kenya would still be so perilously unstable and confused and so politically and ethnically polarised?

These are all symptoms of a failed or dismal leadership, which President Kibaki and his retinue of highly-educated ministers and permanent secretaries has presided over, and it is not convincing to tell us that the problems is lack of professionals in politics.

And that is not all. These so-called professionals in the Executive work in cahoots with professionals in the government bureaucracy and private practice to frustrate the cause of justice and good governance, and are the ones holding the country at ransom.

So the problem in Kenya is not lack of professionals per se but lack of able and principled leadership that can steer the country away from corruption, waste and ineptitude.

Kenya may be the leading professional powerhouse in East Africa, but its leadership is severely lacking in integrity, which is our biggest challenge. And now to the presidential candidates. Who among you is willing to serve Kenya for free?

Who can come forward and declare openly that during your tenure in office, none of your immediate relatives will be employed or do business with the government; and that none of your business firms or partners will ever bid for any government tender?

In that direction lies the path to true leadership, integrity and Kenya’s salvation.

Mr Njaga is a tours consultant in Nairobi (dnjaga@menengaiholidays.com).