Uhuru should seize the moment in order to leave a better Kenya
What you need to know:
The President must not relent on the corruption war, no matter the temptation.
Let the corrupt roast, no matter how high they are.
- He must empower the law enforcers he has appointed to prosecute it and give them a free hand.
- Corruption must be defeated completely in Kenya.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has been riding on a favourable wave. The war he launched against graft has captured many an imagination. Let him not think that this war does not enjoy wide public support. It does.
The other signature undertaking is the Building Bridges Initiative undertaken with Raila Odinga. It is an ambitious political project which is still evolving. Whatever will come out of it is eagerly anticipated.
Uhuru is also pursuing as his signature policy his Big Four agenda — manufacturing, housing, food security and affordable healthcare — which he wants to bequeath as his legacy. He has been told by many people that the success of the Big Four depends on the success of the corruption war. The two are intertwined.
POLITICAL TENSIONS
The Building Bridges Initiative will also assist in the success of the Big Four, if only because it has calmed political tensions dramatically. The principals behind the Initiative have been somewhat vague about their ultimate political objective, even as a 14-member team they formed works behind the scenes on some grand national pact.
True, this Initiative is not viewed favourably by everybody. Supporters of Deputy President William Ruto are highly suspicious of its intent, which they fear is to block their man from the 2022 race, perhaps by working out some deal for constitutional changes ahead of the election. Even the likes of Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula are not exactly enamoured with the "Handshake", principally because they don’t entirely trust Odinga’s intentions.
ANTI-GRAFT CLAMPDOWN
The President must not relent on the corruption war, no matter the temptation. Let the corrupt roast, no matter how high they are. He must empower the law enforcers he has appointed to prosecute it and give them a free hand. Corruption must be defeated completely in Kenya. However it won’t be overcome unless there are top convictions. The prosecutors must present strong cases with watertight evidence. The courts then will have no excuse but to convict.
Uhuru’s main problem is within his Jubilee party. It has become highly factionalised. Partly this is because of one wing fearing the Building Bridges Initiative, and partly due to the same wing’s anxieties over the anti-graft clampdown.
BREXIT IMBROGLIO
If the President keeps steady on his Big Four goals, the Building Bridges Initiative and the anti-corruption crackdown, he will have the opportunity to alter the politics and landscape of Kenya fundamentally. That is why he needs to have a firm hand on the politics of the country, as he watches over the ballooning national debt.
And the world is taking notice. The invitation to visit from US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the upcoming visit to Kenya by British Prime Minister Theresa May, are important endorsements. I am not sure what the erratic Trump wants with our country (maybe it’s to talk about security issues and terrorism). Mrs May on her part will be keen to discuss a trade deal as her country negotiates to leave the European Union — the complicated Brexit imbroglio.
UGANDA DIRECTION
This is not a chance to be missed. Above all, Uhuru should aspire to leave a much better Kenya when he exits office, a Kenya where the pull of ethnicity is less suffocating, and where the young generation can dream their dreams, and feel free to achieve them without hindrance. Lay a good foundation, and the prospects look good. Our country has great potential. We have, for instance, the most educated populace in the region. And what we lack in natural resources — despite our newfound oil — we make up in resourcefulness and drive.
We must avoid going down the route neighbours like Uganda have recently displayed with the brutal treatment of a musician like Bobi Wine. Or the s***hole direction the same Trump once insulted us on. Our democratic foundations are still deepening, but we can’t afford to backslide.
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Perhaps Uhuru should have postponed his appointment with Donald Trump. The White House is currently in disarray, with the US leader threatened by looming legal problems. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been found guilty of tax fraud. And Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has admitted to prosecutors that Trump committed campaign finance violations by paying two women he had extramarital affairs with. As if that is not enough, the chief financial officer of the Trump business enterprise, is co-operating with prosecutors in what could expose all manner of shenanigans of that business empire. A tabloid magazine executive, who Trump has apparently used to in the past to kill salacious articles about him, has also agreed to co-operate with prosecutors. Trump-world is in a bleak mood.
All of a sudden, there is talk of impeachment in political and media circles in Washington DC. It won’t happen yet, as long as Trump’s Republican party control Congress. But if the Democrats were to get more numbers in November’s Congressional election, the scenario would change.
