{UAH} President Uhuru Kenyatta's undoing is that he rules by heart - Opinion - nation.co.ke
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President Uhuru Kenyatta's undoing is that he rules by heart - Opinion
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President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken his entire Cabinet for a four-day, intense, brainstorming, soul-searching and cajoling retreat to Mount Kenya Safari Club. The retreat is principally informed by great determination and a biting hunger on the part of the president to achieve the targets he set for himself and his government when he assumed office.
To his credit, Uhuru acknowledges the depressing, indeed, gloomy reading of his ministers' scorecard. Through his speeches, the president seems alive to the little chance, if any, for tangible improvement in many ministries. So, the retreat looks like the final chance for many to redeem themselves before the president puts them on the chopping block!
That the Uhuru administration has no vitality and glitter is not in doubt. Despite the massive support the president still enjoys amongst many Kenyans, coupled with the nauseating choirs and cheer-leading provided by the Senate and Parliament, the Uhuru administration looks, acts and sounds lifeless.
Whereas, Uhuru might easily see the failings of his ministers and other smaller players in his administration, he needs to take a good look at himself in the political mirror. He will then see the urgent need for a brutal reappraisal of his political agenda, personal philosophy, and even his style and form.
There is great urgency to inject life, bestow some shine, and sprinkle a little bit of glow in his government to capture the imagination and attention of Kenyans. (READ: Uhuru and Ruto take pay cut: Who is next?)
Many Kenyans like the fresh breath of air, the personal zeal and zest of the president as a person. But that is eroded by self-appointed sidekicks who erase the positives and take the president's rating into negative territory.
Ordinary Kenyans loathe many of the president's men in the Senate and Parliament. His association and continued embrace of these sycophants has greatly eroded the esteem Kenyans have for the administration. He needs to keep his distance!
Uhuru tells Kenyans that his government is not a coalition government. But he acts like the junior partner in a coalition government. He defers to and has overindulged URP, sharing all appointments at all levels of government on a 50-50 basis.
Rightly or wrongly, it has created an impression in the minds of many Kenyans that Uhuru is gratuitously beholden to URP. Uhuru's overindulgence has greatly compromised the mean average of the competence, calibre and integrity levels of his appointees.
President Kenyatta is the main reason why his government has failed to sparkle. As president, Uhuru has ruled with his heart and not his head.
He is young, nice and easy going as a person. But as a president he needs to be shrewd, calculating and ruthlessly decisive. He is too soft and slow in chopping off the head of non-performers. Insecurity has reached unprecedented levels and yet no one loses his job!
Uhuru fights wars that are not his. The vicious assault on devolution and the ongoing painful and pitiful siege on the Judiciary are essentially not his pet projects.
His Jubilee partner is ideologically opposed to devolution and a corruption-free judiciary. But Uhuru is being made to look like he is behind both the assault and the siege. He has, in the process, taken huge political losses on both fronts and should publicly disassociate his government from these hobbies.
Lastly, the President needs a project or an idea that defines his place in history. So far he has none. The standard gauge railway and the free maternity exercise don't fit well. Even the laptop idea seems complex.
Uhuru needs to order Labour, Social Security and Services Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi to start and run soup kitchens in all major towns. In a country where millions cannot afford a single hot meal a day, soup kitchens will be a great idea.
Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi is the publisher, Nairobi Law Monthly
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Uhuru-Kenyatta-Cabinet-Retreat-Leadership/-/440808/2236192/-/d9u79c/-/index.html
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