Wishing For Visionary Leadership, In A Transformed Nation

By Mwangi Wanjumbi, Newtimes B. S. Chief Consultant/Trainer

Finally, year 2013 is no longer a wish. It is now here with us. Will the year be better as we continue experiencing modernity? Hopefully yes but, there is a challenge for us here in Kenya. We are already in an election year. Elections have always presented tense and uncertain moments, as we witness the fight for power amongst our political elites.

As a registered voter, my vote is for some reason still up for grabs. My position is informed by some strongly held observations, which I am not able to withhold any more.  The same have been entrenched by concerns recently elicited by a story emanating from Mongolia, a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. This nation of 2.5 million is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Interestingly, we have some similarities with this tiny nation. We gained fresh political freedom about the same time.

After the breakdown of communist regimes in Eastern Europe late in 1989, Mongolia experienced its democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, as well as transition to a market economy. Kenya regained similar liberty just about the same time, but through changing a single clause of the constitution – section 2 A.

This change allowed the re-emergence of pluralism of political parties, which Kenyans have taken full advantage of. Indeed, it is difficult to keep track of the resultant political parties, many of which serve as election vehicles as opposed to ideological tools. Like Mongolia Kenya liberalized its national economy around the same years of freeing politics. The similarities end there, but some notable developments are worth mention.

Apparently, Mongolia has gained some unusual fame in the recent past. It is seemingly the only country that owned skeletal remains of the legendary dinosaur, known to have been the largest mammal on land that is now extinct. The said skeleton was sometimes in 2012, the subject of a controversial sale by auction, somewhere in the US.

Peculiarly, this animal is known to have had a very small head compared to the rest of the body. It is said to have become extinct courtesy of the small head, supported by an equally small brain (the brain of large animals extends up-to 900 grams compared to human beings who have 1400 grams). Thus, this small brain undid the dinosaur. It couldn’t visualize how to feed and take care of the huge body, therefore the obvious result – extinction. What are the implications here?

Once again our country is in electioneering gear, as is normally the case every 5 years. In the past, national survival was largely pegged to the 5 year cycle of elections. It was about who clinches the presidency and from which community. It was about high staked competition for the big office, with little or no regard for any national agenda.

It was about power for the sake of being in power. Tutajua tufanyavyo tukifika mbele (we will know what to do when we get there) seemed to be the guiding light. National visions and strategies of those days largely belonged to the records. Had this continued much longer, it would only have been a matter of time before joining the dinosaur. The alternative would have been just existing primitively like has been the case with our North Eastern war weary neighbor.

Luckily for us, things may be different this time. The larger national direction is pegged to vision 2030, which is soon approaching, even though there are still some 17 or so years to go. The same vision is now in the hands of Vision 2030 Secretariat delivery board, now firmly backed by legal statutes.

Further, implementation of the new constitution has given rise to numerous institutions, whereas empowering existing ones at the same time. All things being equal, our country may never be threatened with destruction or extinction any more, as long as our institutions are allowed to work as envisaged.  Do you doubt this?

The work of our political order has never been easier. It will now be a matter of institutionalized checks and balances. No individual including the presidency will any longer hold the country at ransom. This could not have happened at a better time.

In a highly dynamic and competitive global village, we all need to be endowed with really big brains. The same need to visualize solutions to the numerous challenges that we are continually encountering. We can’t wait for things to happen naturally in a situation where environmental degradation is now a major threat to the global community. We are even told that Mombasa may be no more in the next 50 years or so. Further, Bundalangi, Kano Plains in Western Kenya and others have always experienced major human catastrophes with every onset of the long rains.

Even worse is that food security has never been achieved in a country that is endowed with so much land. Compare this to the proportionate desert mass of Israel, from where we occasionally import some food commodities. Our water towers are continually threatened by deforestation, illegal logging and numerous fires that arise, especially during the hot weather.

Further, we have persistently remained reliant on only small proportions of our potential. This is seemingly so because, we have almost to the man still stuck in harmonious cultures, whereby we tend to do what everybody else is doing. We now have no choice. We need to brace for change and innovation.

Ideally, there could be plenty for all of us if we were to each get outside our comfort zones. Yes, I am talking about largely being guided by our unique abilities coupled with viewing successes in life as long haul affairs. That means overhauling our thought process particularly through the entire education system. The new order needs to facilitate creation of wealth and employment, situations that will ease tension at both personal and national levels.

Ladies and gentlemen, I can endlessly enumerate my wishes and frustrations that need to be tackled by the next administration of this organization called Kenya. Needless to emphasize any more, the leadership of the future needs to convince me that extinction belongs to the era of dinosaurs, therefore no threats of reversing the tide.

We need to persistently be given hope through workable visions and strategies. Indeed, we deserve leadership that will consistently be seeing through the mind in a visionary and transformed nation. My vote therefore belongs to the leader (s) who will seemingly be  seeing farthest through the  mind (s). What about you?

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