By Jackie Adhyambo
Only a newcomer qualifies to be forgiven for thinking that campaigns for the 2027 presidential elections have not kicked off in Kenya in earnest. As we listen to political noises from familiar featherheads, we should pay attention to how countries in our neighbourhood are managing their affairs, how the rest of Africa is handling matters of, say, governance, and how the rest of the world is moving on.
For now, let us agree that Kenya’s historical twists and turns, contemporary challenges and future aspirations demand a leader equipped with unique qualities to steer our country towards stability and prosperity. Drawing lessons from past governance hiccups, current socio-economic realities, and emerging global trends, the ideal president must—as the barest minimum—embody three irreplaceable qualities. This should be worthy of note to those intending to seek the presidency come 2027, those in their advisory ranks and anyone who has been very close to the apex but missed a step and tripped, including the serial loser Kalonzo Musyoka and foremost our tittle-tattle merchant, one Wamunyoro.
First, we need a unifier, not an insular soapbox orator with inerasable backwoods instincts. To endure an ethnic bigot in high office is the same as being condemned into an unventilated closet with a restless skunk. Anyone would no doubt gasp for breath for the entire time inside such a receptacle. For a leader to assume that it is automatic to herd a whole community in one direction like sheep is utterly fallacious and outright naïve. In fact, any leader—purported or deserving—hanging on such delusions should be avoided like the plague. What Kenya needs come 2027 is an ethnic-blind charismatic figurehead l who will make every Kenyan feel part of our great motherland irrespective of such considerations as size of voting blocs. Again, any so-called leader appointing him or herself as kingpin without seeking consensus from the community is a potentially dangerous overlord.
Second, while it is virtuous to be truthful, it’s a tragedy to be clueless about the fulcrums that move forward the economies of nations. The ideal president Kenya needs should attract the best brains around him to reimagine economic strategies that can revitalise such sectors as agriculture, manufacturing, and affordable housing while staying away from grievance-based crybaby mouthfuls in public in search of political capital and sympathy. Instead of vending unverified disclosures—which in the first place is unethical for any one-time insider into the highest sanctums of power—tell us about what you will do to incentivise SMEs, expand our tax base without hurting those at the bottom of our economic pyramid, and leverage partnerships for infrastructure projects and so on.
Third, Kenya needs a suave and well-informed president with a good grasp of the contemporary concepts that continue to inform diplomatic engagements on bilateral and multilateral ties across nations. Any country risks lagging behind if its leadership cares little for legacy building or is in the dark on big ideas that a world on the move is going place with at any given time. Settling for one-track minded individuals as the choice for the president in 2027 is no less than licking rat poison in a circus hoping the inevitable will not happen.
The 2027 elections offer Kenya a chance to redefine her top leadership and kick out the retinue of wags, merry-andrews and emotional wrecks from the way. The ideal president must be a firm hand with a track record, a unifier, tested environmental guardian, education reformer, youth champion, and global diplomat. By learning from the past, addressing present challenges, and anticipating future trends, such a leader can transform Kenya into a beacon of progress, and unity.
We must therefore give damp squibs a wide berth as we identify our 2027 presidential candidate showstopper.
Adhyambo is a Nakuru-based knowledge management consultant.
