By Kiberenge Jnr
The main problem we have in Kenya is having one person serving as head of state and head of government at the same time. Such a person will always tend to protect the interests of the state at the expense of service delivery.
Why we rate Kibaki as best President ever is because when he took over the reigns of power, he literally surrendered the state to the power barons and opted to concentrate on service delivery. Kibaki knew that it is not easy to be in charge of state and government at the same time. In Britain for example, Queen Elizabeth is in charge of the state while Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in charge of service delivery.
Most countries that have progressed have separated the State and the government. In the US, there is a cabal running the state , while Trump is involved in service delivery. It is not in law, but the boundaries are clear. The interests of the State and government are very different. The qualities of leadership that the masses look for in a President are not the same qualities that those in the state look for.
In Africa, we have one person doubling up as head of state and head of government. If we Kenyans are really interested in effective service delivery, we must push for a Prime Minister, who is answerable to the people through the National Assembly, then we can surrender the state to the Oligarchs. That is why the British people surrendered the State to the Queen.
As long as they are getting good services, they don’t care what the Queen does with the State. Our constitution states that “the President is head of state and head of government”. It goes ahead to explain what a government is. But it does not explain what a “state” is. The state is something mysterious only known to them.
This is the conversation the youth of this country should be having
Source: www.kenyagist.com
