By Billy Gichohi
For starters, Happy New Year 2025!
Yesterday, on the eve of the New Year, I watched a recent and riveting 10 or so minute video clip of Pastor T. Mwangi speaking generally about how nations rise and fall. He focused his attention on events that have taken place in Kenya in the recent past. The episode ended with a memorable prayer of its kind. The tone and reference in Pastor T’s ‘homily’—if you may—is markedly different from many trifling rants that I have heard lately.
One of the key areas Pastor T addressed was the need to respect institutions even when our opinions differ with the individual(s) occupying their leadership ranks. In particular he implored Kenyans and especially those of us in the Gen Z camp to note the difference between the president and the presidency and ensure that we preserve the honour and dignity of the institution even when we have a bone to pick with the leadership of the moment.
After listening to that clip I took time to try and understand the difference between the president and the presidency and this is what I found out. The terms “president” and “presidency” are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. The president is the individual who holds the office of head of state or head of government in a republic. The presidency, on the other hand, refers to the office or institution of the president, as well as the period during which a president holds office. Pastor T paints throwing mud at the presidency as demolishing the house you live in instead of renovating it if what is required is renovation. This made me reflect a little more about what will become of the institution of the presidency in Kenya if we continue disfiguring it today to spite the current occupant who will be gone sooner what come may!
I also found out that whomever it may be, the president is the person who is elected or appointed to the highest office and who is responsible for leading the government and representing the nation on the world stage. He or she is typically the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and has the power to veto legislation. Meanwhile, the presidency, on the other hand, is the office or institution of the president. It includes the president’s staff, advisors, and other personnel who help the president carry out their duties. These staff members change all the time. Some of us shouting from the rooftops today will find themselves serving in those ranks one day – who knows! I would hate to serve an office so defiled by careless profiling simply because politics of the day are overly toxic. The presidency, by the way, is also the period during which a president holds office. This period is typically four or five years, depending on the country.
The main difference between the president and the presidency is that the president is the person who holds the office, while the presidency is the office itself. The president is the individual who is responsible for leading the government, while the presidency is the institution that supports the president in carrying out their duties. What Pastor T was preaching about boils down to a wake up call urging us to protect the perpetual authority of the presidency and avoid letting blanket dissent and negativity towards the holder of the office cloud our judgement and sense of honour. And I agree more so because some of the AI depictions of our leaders I have encountered online are completely objectionable. They go beyond the confines of what a decent and polite society should be.
Two, Pastor T in his loaded video clip touches on the need to shun what he refers to as the Titanic mentality. This he defines at the attitude of sinking the common board we are riding to serve selfish and narrow interests that are essentially informed by a self-destruct instinct. On that score the good man of collar reminds us that we have a duty to preserve Kenya for future generations. That, I concur with too!
On keen reflection, I think time has come to define no-go zones when expressing our dissent towards what we have issues with before we cut our nose to spite our face.
Happy New Year!
Billy Gichohi is an aspiring politician who currently works for a Nairobi-based international organisation that supports small-scale farmers undertaking transformative farming projects in East Africa.
