Being the President of Kenya is turning out to be one of the toughest jobs. Unless you’ve held it, you probably can’t grasp just how difficult it is. Well, if that is not the case then there is no explanation why you have presidents who perpetually opt to appease fellow leaders and political class honchos in self-preservation efforts at the expense of the very people who matter in a democracy – the voters.
President Mwai Kibaki started strong, igniting hope for an optimistic nation. But his administration quickly sought refuge in the Grand Coalition Government, a move necessitated by political realities.
I mean, even after dubiously swearing himself at night, he couldn’t survive and a lot of the constitutional provisions, especially on assumption of office of an elected president were predicated on his mischief. Then came President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose second term dispensed with the dynamic duo kind of co- presidency and had to make do with safety in Raila Odinga to see him cement a very solid legacy. Now, President William Ruto, who spent over 20 years working towards the presidency while vowing there would be no handshake, finds himself in a similar situation. He has crafted a government he once described as “a mongrel” where opposition and government are indistinguishable.
It’s clear that no president willingly chooses power-sharing with their rivals. The reality is, once in office, circumstances dictate survival tactics. Ruto and his allies loathe the idea of a coalition-style government, but they have little choice. This confirms a recurring pattern: being Kenya’s president is far harder than it looks from the outside.
I suppose this government has taken the easy route. The self-preservation route over genuine service to the people.
The more difficult but effective path would have been standing with Wanjiku, the ordinary Kenyan. Instead, they have chosen to court political leaders, a path littered with pitfalls.
The strategy appears to be building an alliance of ethnic kingpins, banking on Raila Odinga’s influence to seal victory in 2027.
But this reliance on ethnic politics underestimates the shifting reality of Kenyan voters. For years, elections have been dictated by ethnic reductionism—the idea that voters make choices based on tribal affiliations rather than individual merit or policies.
Both the ruling Kenya Kwanza alliance and the opposition Azimio coalition are deeply entrenched in this mindset, assuming that Kenyans will always vote in blocs controlled by political heavyweights.
This belief fuels the current administration’s attempt to recreate a coalition akin to Raila’s ODM summit of 2007. The idea is to bring in top regional leaders some who command very little clout in their backyards, a reductionist approach that is reducing millions of individual voters to tribal and regional blocs and selling these blocs as loyal to a certain political leader who will deliver these voters to President William Ruto to the last man come 2027.
This is as false as that false tyranny of numbers that was once bandied by some mouthpiece for hire. Today’s voters are increasingly breaking free from the ethnic mindset.
