Kiambaa residents queue to vote at Karuri Primary School. [George Njunge, Standard]
This week has witnessed heightened political jostling for the next tenant of the House on the Hill. As expected, the men who think they deserve the seat of power were holed up in cozy boardrooms, exclusive lodges and/or premier residential addresses to share out the nation. The hoi polloi do not matterafter all, they can always be herded like sheep for slaughter.
The clique of about seven men who have traversed our public lives like a colossus over the past four decades seem and/or believe they are invincible. To them, the presidency and the perks that come with it is their birthright. The irony of it all is that we have walked this road over and over again since the 2002 General Election. No lessons seem to have been learned nor does there appear to be any change of tact to bring a sense of creativity or innovation.
In his book,The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene explores an intriguing discourse on how to access, apply and retain power. While many of the laws offer insights to those who aspire to rise to the pinnacle of political power, I find some to be inconsistent with modern societal norms and democratic governance structures.
Help us serve you better by completing our quick survey.
For instance, in law number 15 he argues for a case of crushing your enemies totally. Otherwise, they can retreat and prepare for decisive revenge. While this is philosophically sound, the practical application of the law in a constitutional democracy would be daunting. In our Kenyan context, for example, how can an elected president or governor who ran on a joint ticket with a deputy crush them totally without destroying their own power base?
Access to information
In a broader sense, several of the laws imply an autocratic leadership style and socio-economic dis-empowerment of the masses to hold on to power. This sounds familiar in our local case where, by default, no elected political leader wants enough of his people empowered. They loathe their voters having access to the right information, attaining economic independence, questioning their performance record, and/or demonstrating tangible achievements for the benefit of those that put them in power.
The practical relevance of these laws in the 21st century knowledge and innovation-driven economies will require special leadership capabilities. The explosion of the power of social media and internet-driven gig economy has shifted politico-economic power balances within and across nations permanently.For economists, the impact of national leaders on economic growth and development, and hence the welfare of citizens, has been a hard nut to crack. The primary challenges have been on finding exogenous (random) factors and comparative data to evaluate the leaders individual contribution to economic growth without bias. Nonetheless, there have been few credible studies that provide reliable evidence that national leaders influence economic growth and development.
In 2005,Benjamin Jones and Benjamin Olken adduced one of the most credible evidence on the importance of national leaders in influencing economic growth of a country. This effect can either be positive or negative, especially in autocratic regimes where the leader has fewer constraints in exercising their individual leadership power. A positive economic growth arises from the leaders ability to affect policy outcomes, invest in the right public goods and services, chose pro-growth policies, and overcome national scale coordination problems.
Furthermore, a national leader bears the sole responsibility to either attract well-intentioned and capable planners to run the government or select the vainglorious and/or thieves. The leader also has power to influence institutions that are empirically proved to influence economic growth. On the contra, the individual leader can cause negative growth through the tendency to steal, condone corruption and lead the country into war.
Equally, they can also destroy institutions of governance like Parliament, Judiciary and constitutional bodies, and fill strategic offices in government with cronies rather than meritocracy based appointments. Other studies by Londregan and Poole in 1990 find coups are less likely when economic growth is good, while Fair Ray (1978) finds a president is less likely to be elected during a recession in the United States.
Investments in public goods
Weber Maxs (1947) theory of social and economic organisation argues that an individual national leader can stimulate growth be emphasizing on good investments in public goods. These include investments in education, health and infrastructure, or pursuing national policies that facilitate international trade and effective monetary policy. On the negative side, the capacity of the leader to make war or pursue systematic corruption suggests means of economic-wide influences.
In Africa, Frank Gyimah (2021) examines the impact of African leadership characteristics and regime transitions on economic growth. Using a sample of 44 sub-Saharan countries from 1970 -2010, he finds democratic leaders are able to attract direct foreign investments and hence cause positive economic growth. On transition elections, he finds business cycles that reduce growth. Overall, he concludes that there is a limit to which an aging leader can stay in office.
Given, leaders like Charles Taylor of Liberia, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe had huge negative impacts on the socio-economic welfare of their respective countries.
The fact that presidential candidates can unashamedly prioritize boardroom deals to share power among themselves without weighing the interests of the electorate speaks volumes. The rate at which they abandon their political vehicles to power also signifies a genuine lack of ideological persuasion to drive meaningful economic reforms. It is one thing to gain political power, it is a totally different ball game to use the power so attained to drive economic reforms that grow and redistribute wealth in an equitable, fair and just manner.
From the foregoing demonstrable evidence, there are three critical considerations that we the electorate must zealously guard in 2022. One, if the end justifies the means for the political elite, then it becomes our solemn duty and moral obligation to protect our individual and collective self-interest. If greed for power drives those that seek to lead us, then our socio-economic welfare must dictate how we exercise our freedoms and liberties at the ballot.
Economic self-preservation
Two, given the ability of individual leaders to influence policy outcomes, re-organize institutions, eradicate or abate corruption, lead us into war, and promote meritocracy or perpetuate mediocrity, then our economic self-preservation needs must be our primary consideration in choosing our national leader. In this way, their capacity to lead, temperament, ability to inspire, decisiveness and emotional intelligence should and ought to be the irreducible minimums.
Finally, time has come for us as the electorate to appreciate the fact that nature does not harbour vacuums. Our inability to harness and coordinate our individual and collective power of the ballot has been exploited by a few to monopolize power. In many ways we have been reduced to economic and political squatters in our own country. We have been made to believe there exists an invincible Deep State and we only exist at their mercy. A classic demonstration of this is the BBI drama (by the time of writing this article, I do not know of its fate).
The purpose of economic evidence and history is to learn lessons from the past, prepare for today and predict the future. Since the collapse of one-party dictatorship in 1991, we have had three regimes with diametrically different economic outcomes. Of the three regimes, the most consequential is the one in which we transcended tribal barriers and individual leadership greed to select the most qualified and competent of them all. Its just the stupid data. Thats it!
Continue reading here:
Our welfare is inevitably wedded to our choice of national leaders - The Standard
- In defence of the state pension triple lock - UK in a Changing Europe - November 20th, 2023 [November 20th, 2023]
- Driving an entrepreneurship culture | Print Edition - The Sunday ... - The Sunday Times Sri Lanka - November 20th, 2023 [November 20th, 2023]
- NTSA embarks on Road safety sensitisation drives as heavy rains ... - Capital FM Kenya - November 20th, 2023 [November 20th, 2023]
- How We Dealt with Environmental Events in the Past can Help Us ... - One Green Planet - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Djibouti is sinking deeper into socio-economic distress. Can the ... - Nation - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Thailands tectonic political shift - East Asia Forum - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Our climate and nature response: the imperative and opportunity - New Zealand Herald - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Police in Marsabit launch manhunt killers of security officer - Nation - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Odds stacked against Team CR's attempts to emulate champs - IOL - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Total War: Warhammer makes the likes of Total War: Pharaoh feel ... - TechRadar - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Quo Vadis Iran? The future of the Islamic Republic after the protests ... - Real Instituto Elcano - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- NWest economic decline leads job shedding crisis in SA Leon ... - Politicsweb - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- A pawn in the ANCs betrayal of SAs developmental agenda - DFA - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- Alarmist headlines about evictions should be ignored in favour of ... - Property Industry Eye - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- The role of women's activism in the fight for Ukraine's freedom - RTE.ie - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- Role of ecological governance in resilience building - Newsday Zimbabwe - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- I'll Explore New Wealth Creation Methods In Kogi Melaye - Leadership News - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- Gift of the Givers conference and Africa Day - Daily Maverick - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- REDcycle's collapse is more proof that plastic recycling is a broken ... - December 30th, 2022 [December 30th, 2022]
- The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Column: The hope and warning of Iran's protests - Meadville Tribune - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Economists debunk the banking system and win the Nobel Prize - Cointelegraph - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Elizabeth Shackelford: The hope and warning of Iran's protests - Rochester Post Bulletin - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Taliban's Triumph Has Been Afghanistan's Tragedy - The National Interest Online - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- GDP is (almost) everything, and that's the problem - Resilience - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Victoria 3 Launches On October 25th, Bringing The Victorian Era To Life In Paradox's Grand Strategy Sim - MMORPG.com - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Protests, 'biznez' and a failed coup: journalist Monica Attard on covering the empire Gorbachev allowed to collapse - The Conversation - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- The life and death of Italian centrism - Social Europe - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Giving a dam in the Mekong basin - Policy Forum - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Pakistan's history of disasters and the lessons we fail to learn - DAWN.com - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Elections shed light on rise of racism, discrimination in Sweden | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Moses parts the Red Devil sea - Iola Register - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Adapt or reap the whirlwind of the rising seas: Protect Battery Park City from the encroaching Hudson River - New York Daily News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Why Lebanese citizens are joining the migrant tide out of the Middle East - Arab News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Iranians Call for Prosecution of Raisi, Instead of Welcoming Him at UN - Iran Focus - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- CISLAC to Governors: Sacrifice your jumbo pays to salvage imminent economic collapse - The Eagle Online - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- Are Humans an Invasive Species? - EARTH.ORG - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- Jose Rodriguez came to America looking for a brighter future. He ended up a casualty in the political battle over immigration between Texas and New... - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- Small Island Developing States: Looking Past the COVID-19 Pandemic - Harvard International Review - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Growing India-Vietnam economic relations - Times of India - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Lebanon Ranked As The Angriest Country In The World - The961 - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Let's be honest with our economics - NewsDay - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Socio-economic meltdown leaves Lebanese hanging on by a thread | | UN ... - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- UN and Australia give dignity kits to women and girls in Sri Lanka ... - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Parliamentary Elections and the Future of the Armenian Community in Lebanon - Armenian Weekly - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- A Glimpse of the Chin State and Beyond: One Year after the Military Coup in Myanmar - PRESSENZA International News Agency - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Hobbled Economic Performance during Modi's Eight Years: Solution has been the Problem - HW News English - June 18th, 2022 [June 18th, 2022]
- Over 70 Crypto Currencies Have Lost 90% Of Their Value Since Their Peak, Bitcoin Rises - Outlook India - June 18th, 2022 [June 18th, 2022]
- Chinas Xi Jinping Could Knowingly Start a War Without Victory - RealClearDefense - June 18th, 2022 [June 18th, 2022]
- Muse: There's gonna be a big shift. We're dealing with a disruptive transition - NME - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- Cryptocurrency is a symptom of the death of the American dream - The New Statesman - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- A conflict of professional ethics and ambition in NAATCO's Off-Broadway debut of 'Queen' at ART/New York - DC Theater Arts - DC Metro Theater Arts - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- Nigeria-2023: Money politics and theft of democracy - Blueprint Newspapers Limited - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- 25.12: The Collapse of the Soviet Union: A Timeline of Key Events - June 5th, 2022 [June 5th, 2022]
- Scale, context, and heterogeneity: the complexity of the social space | Scientific Reports - Nature.com - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Last one to leave Ireland, please switch off the lights - The Irish Times - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Governments on Road to Collapse as Global Supply Chain Crisis ... - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- Dissolution of Russia - Wikipedia - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- Lecture at Institute of Human Rights, Guangzhou University: Human rights in the world: the role of multilateralism - OHCHR - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- 13 books and reports on science, impacts, solutions, and actors - Yale Climate Connections - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- What Europe still needs to do to save its bees - EUobserver - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- Waving the Lion Flag - Groundviews - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Special briefing: Lebanese elections reshape the political scene - Middle East Institute - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Oil hazards aren't the main worry of Nigeria's coastal residents: toilets are - The Conversation - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- MAREE TODD: Sharp focus on cost-of-living crisis in Caithness - JohnOGroat Journal - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Emefiele at CBN: Preserving Today, Protecting the future - THISDAY Newspapers - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Five things to know to start your Monday - Businessday - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- 2023: Workers and political participation - Blueprint Newspapers Limited - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- How Africa can respond to the seismic changes in the world: lessons from history - The Conversation Indonesia - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- Workers Day: Onus on staff to upskill themselves - The Citizen - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- Green capitalism is not the solution to South Africas energy crisis - News24 - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- Rwanda most effective low-income country - report | The New Times - The New Times - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- The 'Panic Masters': is postgraduate study the solution to your career crisis? - Epigram - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- Homophobia and transphobia have more in common than you think - Dazed - May 1st, 2022 [May 1st, 2022]
- Putin has launched the first economic world war, and the EU and the West are his targets - MarketWatch - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- New Phase in Dalit Politics: Crisis or Regeneration? - Outlook India - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- Crikey Worm: Following the leaders? - Crikey - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- Security Implications of ASUU Strikes, by Hassan Gimba - The Source - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- The socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 in the Middle ... - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]