RE: WERA- Women Elite for Raila

Guys,

I could not help but respond to comments from our brother William. He is entitled to his choice of candidate but I would like him to consider a few of my humble comments.

The roles of a President and a CEO (in the business sense) are similar in many ways but also have fundamental differences. Leaders are expected to offer strategic direction, inspire followers, balance competing interests, take risks and make difficult decisions etc. The list is endless.

My understanding of a CEO's role is to maximise the owners value in a company. He is an agent of the shareholders/owners. A company is set up interested in maximising returns for its shareholders. While a CEO is responsible for the day to day running of an organisation he reports to a Board of Directors from time to time. The Board is collectively responsible for taking care of the owners interests. To my mind(I stand to be corrected), an executive Prime Minister is the closest political position to a CEO ( He reports to parliament and consults with a non-executive president,in the business world, a non executive Chairman).

A President's role in the political sense has a more difficult job than a CEO in the business sense. His mandate constrained to maximising economic returns or achieving targeted key performance indicators. He tries to maximise important but very complex targets like economic growth, happiness, hope,peace, security, justice, freedom etc. To balance these competing interests and hold the nation together one must take into account economic prosperity along with many other factors.

To drive my point home, I attach a presentation that was made in Kenya by the renowned Professor for Global competitiveness from Harvard Micheal Porter at Strathmore Business School. It puts our famous 6% growth in perspective against the rest of the world. Take a hard look at his recommendations. These include, Kenya will not succeed unless it deals with corruption, security and legal weaknesses. Another is push responsibility for economic development to the provinces etc.

Now a few questions for my brother.

1.Do you believe your preferred candidate will implement the necessary radical reforms to free Kenya of any baggage it has from its past?

2. Do you believe that your candidate can balance economic transformation with social transformation to create a stable society?A society that pursues its dreams and has a safety net for the losers in the ruthless battle for resources?

3. Taking you back to 1992, when your preferred candidate ran for president for the first time, can you comfortably say he had done great things for Kenya having been in politics for close to 30 years?It is easier for you to say he has done XYZ in the last 5years. I dare you that my preferred candidate has the drive to do more with the same powers.

I agree with you that your candidate has contributed to opening up of democratic space in the last 15 years. He has also created an enabling environment and a culture for Kenyans to prosper economically. However I think he lacks the selfless drive to fundamentally change the current distribution of economic resources.If our current 6% that is skewed is anything to go by then brace yourself for many more mungikis...sprouting all over the country.(It is the president who should set priorities for eradicating slums Kibera, Mathare and Korogocho.Not Raila!).Lastly your candidate does not have the guts to make difficult decisions until he is pushed to the wall. This is reactionary leadership.

My preferred candidate (Raila) demonstrates strong leadership skills and has made selfless decisions for Kenya. He is a risk taker and will not shy away from taking difficult decisions(While you candidate moved from Bahati to Othaya when things were thick,he stuck in Langata and risked a by election!). My candidate is not without weaknesses. He will continue to eliminate any rivals(a cardinal rule of power) which may stifle a few democratic gains. He will continue to play politics but this will be mitigated by pressure to outperform the incumbent. His best bet is to leave policy to a strong team of competent ministers and concentrate on making the difficult strategic decisions for Kenya. This is proactive leadership.

We need a leader who will inspire us and build a desire in us that we can be the best rather than a bit better than mediocrity.(For the those who like football...bottom of the premier league than top of the division four or five)

Vote wisely.

Jonathan Muga.