Re: Presidential candidates need good advicers

Dear All

The days when presidential candidates in kenya relied on cronies who entirely depended on them are gone. The cronies were for the purposes of over praising the candidate to boost their ego and confidence. However, they have no place in technical planning in winning a compaign. Dont get me wrong the cronies have their role in politics but they should not act as advicers because they are afraid of loosing favor with the candidate.

Although Kenya is a developing country, the sophistication of the populace rivals that of United States. Do not be surprised, majority of kenyans are well informed than majority of people in United States. It is with dismay that the J LENO show has captured people on the streets of New York who dont know who Dick Chenney looks like and yet every kenyan with high school level education would consider this kind of question an insult. It is therefore time for presidential candidates to factor this in because this alone can make them loose an election. The only way they can do this is to have paid or unpaid think tank that can advice on political, social and economic moves that can result in misgivings by possible voters or voters that are on the fence

Raila in a KSHS. 43,000,000 item is no big deal because he can afford it. As a matter of fact, Raila is not the only person who can afford a hummer in Kenya. But to buy a hummer right in the middle of presidential campaign and yet you represent one of the largest poorest slum in the world is bad judgement. We all make bad judgement, but when you are a presidential candidate people expect more from you. That is why we still expected Bush to be at least a B student even though it may not have a bearing in his leadership, or may be on second thought it has.

It is not an easy task for an individual to be all round and all perfect but the individual must recognise this part of our imperfection. It is moreso impossible for one to do everything with everyone in mind and this is why anyone asking to be in a position over people must have advicers from all walks of life that can tell them what each person in each category or grouping would think about their actions and words and what those actions will do.

As an individual I do not seek anyone's opinion to buy anything I want. I may ask my wife but sometimes her opinion will not affect my decision because she is only one person. Raila as an individual, does not need anyones opinion either but when he tells the public that he wants to be their president then he must think before he act and he must employ other people's opinion before he act.

Raila needs good advicers. This would have been done in a better way if the advicers were there or if they were aware. The hummer could have been bought and should have not been used during the opening of the parliament if he needed it that much. Alternatively the hummer could have been bought later. It is time that Raila advicers know that politics in Kenya has become complicated. The days when elections were just a matter of showing how important you are are gone. Kenyans are now holding their future leaders to higher standards. Kenyans want to know if their leaders care about their plight. Kenyans want to know if their leaders can empathise with their state of life. It is no longer a matter of being our boss it is a matter of asking to be our servant.

And Jesus said "Whoever wants to be a leader must seek to be a servant first".

Dr. Barack Abonyo