Resoluteness in leadership is a great virtue. That President William Ruto is resolute is not in doubt.

 In fact, one of the key aspects that distinguished him from other presidential candidates is his resoluteness. He was not distracted by the insurmountable forces that were up against him – the son of a peasant. The campaign fever pitch period was characterised by his landmark declaration that he was a man on a mission without the luxury, nay the distraction, to retreat or surrender.

His ambition was backed by a resoluteness to change the plight of the majority poor. He was clear on his ideology – a bottom-up approach that would get the poor from the bottom of the economic pyramid to some life of dignity. His campaign rallying call was framed to suit aspirations of the majority poor.

Hustlers bought it hook, line and sinker, but today they are disenchanted to the core. They need a glimmer of hope and the wisemen around the President are failing to give that and it can prove catastrophic to their privileged position.

The opulence exalted by a few coteries around the President does not speak well of a President who rose from peasantry to the top against all odds. We need to remind the coteries that the resoluteness of a leader is not only about where he is taking the lead, but also about the sound counsel he gets and manner in which the journey to his vision is undertaken.

A story is told of a hotel owner who was resolute on cutting unnecessary cost that he instituted a decree banning employees from using toothpicks. Toothpicks were preserved for guests only. The employees got the message but the manner some naïve ones went about saving cost was catastrophic to the hotel business.

They resorted to using toothpicks and returning the used ones to toothpick holders for guests to use. At least they were not wasting. “How smart?” The hotel owner had the vision but the people to execute ended up hurting the business more in execution.

The President is on records saying the housing levy cannot be stopped by anyone but seems like the counsel he gets is not alive to the realities on the ground. It is not the few authoritative voices that are up against the levy. It is the burden on the common Mwanainchi that anchors the dissenting voices.

As a country, we have not scored highly on adherence to the rule of law and to allude to the fact that not even courts can stop the levy does speak loudly about the clever people around the President.

What counsel are they offering and are they situating such counsel broadly within the context of the greater good of the country? I doubt. To what extent do they contribute to these resolute decisions made by the President and do they think about the strategic communications around some of the very resolute decisions made?  Take the economy for instance. Lots of landmark decisions have been made about the economy – from taxing people more to having a levy shrouded in legal loopholes to the buzz word living within our means.

But the reality is that while the President is talking about a steadied economy, his deputy says it will take ten years at best to deliver the promises made to hustlers and at worst says all manner of conflicting things.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary who probably should be the chief counsel to the President on fiscal matters has on many occasions said as a country we are broke and cannot afford to pay our expenses. The common Mwanainchi does not have money in the pockets and both the shopping baskets and food on the table have reduced in quantity and quality.

If the resoluteness is based on giving Kenyans a better life, the President and his wise men owe us a picture of this better life with clarity on when this picture will be clear. They must give us a clear pathway and communicate strategically and tactically where we are in this pathway.

— The writer is a PhD candidate in political communication