Whom do you trust?

The idea that youth is the only viable criteria to determine whether one should lead a community, a corporation or the state is as misguided as the idea that only age bestows wisdom or experience. Leadership is a complex and complicated matter, and it can only or should only be bestowed upon one who shows maturity in decision-making, strength in committing to a course of action, flexibility on abandoning a faltering course, and humility in accepting the wisdom of others. The politicians calling for a generational change have the right idea but the wrong motives in asking for a re-think in the manner that we elevate leaders to national political positions. In 2013, Kenyans are faced with the task of deciding from a slate of time-worn and up-and-coming ambitious candidates who will lead and who will follow. Prime Minister Raila Odinga and many of his contemporaries are the target of the calls for 'generational change' and some of the brickbats being lobbed at them are well deserved. But it is facile to intimate that simply because he has crossed the 'magic' fifty-year birthday that he should 'step aside' and allow the 'youth' to take over the reigns of leadership.

Africa, as indeed the rest of the world, reveres the wisdom of the aged. There is a reason for this. Many of the mature citizens in our midst have lived life, experienced its ups and downs and reached a point where they are capable of discerning the challenges or risks a particular course of action will engender. However, many of them have lived a life where decisions they have made, actions they have taken, or courses they have pursued have led to misery and death. Sometimes, old age is an excuse to cling on to time-worn ideas that or little benefit in contemporary times. Shakespeare wrote that youth is wasted on the young; the vigour and vitality of the young, coupled with their natural enthusiasm and exuberance for new things have sometimes come to grief, especially when weighty matters in need of intellectual interrogation fly over their heads and in their headstrong rush towards a particular goal they ignore the signs of danger in the paths they tread.

There is no reason why I should repose my faith in William Ruto, Eugene Wamalwa, or Maina Njenga when what they have doe in their youthful lives has been anything but dishonourable or downright criminal. Joshua Kutuny and Simon Mbugua have demonstrated starkly that sometimes it is a mistake to bestow leadership on one who is not ready. Omar Hassan Omar has demonstrated that despite education and involvement at the highest levels of government, youth cannot be translated to good judgment or wisdom overnight. On the other hand, Major General Hussein Ali demonstrates that experience is an important ingredient when faced with personal challenges that endanger personal liberty, and he is a case-study for how the wisdom of the ages can be encapsulated in a single man when he faces the trial of his life.

Critical decisions must be made if we are to successfully steer this country back to the road to civilised government. We will require leadership to make the right choices and mitigate the challenges that we will face in the road to the full implementation of the Constitution. It is imperative that the leaders we choose for ourselves understand that it is no longer OK to play one people against another or take the lives of ordinary Kenyans for granted. Leaders must be forcefully reminded that they were not chosen as of right, but that they were chosen for a purpose. The Presidency or the Governorships or Senate positions are not theirs or their communities; they are the recognition by the people that their experience, wisdom, vigour, vitality, intellect and reputations are required for nation-building and development.

We must debunk the idea that so-and-so 'deserves' to be president or governor or senator. Just because someone has demonstrated that he is a patriot or that he ha suffered for this country is not reason enough to be 'bequeathed' with leadership; only men and women of ideas and wisdom should be chosen. Those angling to succeed President Kibaki in 2012 must demonstrate that they have the people's interests at heart and that they are willing to break with the past to bring Kenya into the future. They must demonstrate that they are capable of generating ideas and that they have the courage, wisdom and strength to implement these ideas to bring Kenya out of poverty, tackle disease, and ensure that we become a knowledge-based meritocracy, capable of competing on the regional, continental and international stage as equals and not as alms-seekers. The current crop of politicians has failed us and it is time we reminded them that regardless of their pedigree or their political experience, in 2012 we will judge them as much on their past achievements or failures as on their age and their ideas for the future. If they are incapable of understanding this basic fact, there is absolutely no reason why we should allow them to stay one minute longer in their current positions. We would be better off being ruled by children in standard three - at least they still appreciate the concept of right and wrong!