As he had promised while on the campaign trail, US President Donald Trump, literally went on a rampage once in office. The man simply took a wrecking ball to what he considered travesties that had been allowed to fester, hindering that country’s potential.

The disbanding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was most shocking and traumatic. Countries around the world that have been beneficiaries of USAID largesse are still scrambling to catch their breath.

Amidst dire warnings from Trump, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a truce. Exchange of prisoners and hostages from each side held by Israel and Hamas respectively are being exchanged. The truce has held for a number of weeks, and a permanent peace is being negotiated.

He stopped military assistance for Ukraine in its war with Russia, demanding an end to the war. He was emphatic that people must stop dying unnecessarily in the war, and the US would not support Ukraine’s continued warfare. A meeting between Trump and Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelensky, was a complete fiasco, degenerating into a shouting match. But Trump has refused to yield.

Trump ended federal support for transgender agenda, declaring that there are only two genders- male and female. This has upended the gravy train of many organisations pushing this agenda. He banned any person who was born biologically male from competing in women sports.

He withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and declared an emergency on the Southern US border.

Trump took these drastic actions within days of his being sworn in. Several lessons emerge for leaders who want to reform their societies.

First, only shock therapy stands a chance of upending the entrenched systems and cartels that hold countries hostage, leading to poor governance. These interests have perfected the art of wearing the president down, and finally getting him or her completely bogged down.

They then wait you out. Secondly, there is no time to waste. Get down on it immediately after getting sworn into office, when you still have novelty, and people are still trying to figure you out.

Once they figure you out and fashion a box for you, you are toast. The first 100 days ae critical.

Thirdly, target the most critical aspects of your agenda and start with them. When the pushback finally reaches a critical mass, because it will, you will have achieved what you really set out to do in office. Your legacy is assured.

Fourth, if you are going to wait for validation from the politically correct mob or the online groupthink police, you will never achieve anything. Ignore their howls of protest, their negativity and naysaying. As the saying goes, faint heart never won a fair damsel.

The big question then, can such a drastic reform platform be carried out in Kenya? One of the biggest things that Trump has going for him is that he is not beholden to special interests. He came into politics as a rank outsider.

The Washington establishment and its political and economic oligarchy has spent almost a decade fighting him. He owes them nothing. He can thus push a radical agenda. For instance, if he had owed Washington insiders an election debt, he would never have been able to pull the rug from under USAID, or pulled the brakes on the gravy train that is the Ukraine-Russia war.

The biggest drawback in Kenya is that the “owners’ of Government usually form ethnic alliances based on financial capability that propels candidates into the presidency.

Once the candidate becomes president, he is a hostage of people who spent billions on his candidature. He must play ball. The president then spends the next five years pussyfooting around the drastic reforms needed, as the clock winds down on his tenure.

All presidents in Kenya have left the country how they found it, unable to push the drastic reforms needed to bring to birth a new Kenya. And this dynamic does not look like it is changing anytime soon.

—  Gathu Kaara can be reached at [email protected]