President Ruto has a curious personality trait that exerts an outsized influence on how he acts. He is an incorrigible paternalistic people-pleaser who wants to be seen to have an answer to every quandary presented to him.

This quirk has been recognised and pointed out by others, including some of his most senior advisers. But the President does not seem to think it is a problem, and so he continues in his ways.

After weeks of street protests that appeared to humble him, confining him to Nairobi much longer than he’d have liked, he has relapsed to his true self. He’s again crisscrossing Kenya, sounding as if he’s campaigning for President. He’s making promises he’s unlikely to fulfil, throwing around ideas about multimillion-shilling projects as though he has an endless supply of money.

A little over a week ago, he held a town hall-style meeting with locals in Mombasa, a video recording of which I watched at the weekend. After a 20-minute monologue, the President invited questions from the audience.

About an hour into the exchanges, I was struck by one question from a well-spoken middle-aged man who sounded like a globetrotting know-it-all, and the President’s response.

The man, who described himself as a heritage promoter, lamented that Mombasa’s Old Town wasn’t bringing in tourist dollars anywhere near the volume similar sites around the world were garnering (he cited the historic quarters of Rome and Zanzibar as examples).

Old Town is known around the world for its narrow streets and twisting alleys, and buildings with African, Arabic and European-influenced architectural features dating back centuries. First-time visitors say entering that inner city is like being transported to another realm.

The area obviously has significant cultural value to Mombasa residents and Kenyans in general, hence the man’s question.

But it’s not a question I’d have thought should be directed at the President, who presumably has more important issues to deal with and about which he could speak with greater authority (Cabinet nominees, turning his back on China and embracing the West, etc.)

The President could have deflected the question and referred the man to local authorities in Mombasa who are the more appropriate agents to address such an issue. But no, he had to obey his instinct to project himself as the leader who has all the answers.

It’s hard to say whether the questioner or the President was aware that the matter of safeguarding heritage sites such as Old Town (home to Fort Jesus) is in legal limbo right now.

While the responsibility for protecting the sites is shared by several entities, including the National Museums of Kenya (NMK), the agency, in its 2020-2022 strategic plan, sought to devolve some of its functions to counties so as to align its governance to the demands of the Constitution. Some sites were gazetted to be devolved in 2022.

But according to the auditor general’s February 2024 performance report on conservation of the sites, the NMK had not discussed with counties and a devolution-promoting agency on how to do this. The auditors said the process had stalled.

More to the point, for Old Town to draw more visitors and earn more money (if that’s what locals want, considering that overtourism has sparked a backlash in other cities around the world), other stakeholders should be involved in managing it.

These include community groups, owners of historical buildings in that quarter, and tour operators and related businesses that benefit from the district’s cultural appeal.

But rather than acknowledging that this is an issue more relevant for local authorities, the President proceeded to try to answer the man’s question, though he didn’t have anything specific and useful to say.

And this illustrates the President’s most recognisable foible – his need to posture as the wise man who possesses all the answers to Kenya’s problems. Sometimes he just needs to say he doesn’t know and will consult. We won’t hold it against him.

— The writer is a Sub-Editor with People Daily; henry.gekonde@mediamax.ke