Trustworthy leadership key to economic and social development

Kenyans should be more optimistic this year. Last year was tough for majority of Kenyans. About 29 per cent of Kenyans were reportedly unable to travel to their rural homes during the Christmas period because of high fare prices.

The Standard's headline, 'A tear and cheer this Christmas' said it all. Last year was a stressful period full of economic, social, political and public sector performance challenges. Needless to say, the country’s budget was affected by the high public debt that hit $82.5 billion last year while youth unemployment rate remained worrisome. Globally this problem is being described as “graduate glut, generation jobless”.

The country’s population, which is presently at 56 million, is growing by about one million per year, or 2 per cent, and is projected to reach 85 million by 2050.

This demands good planning and preparations for greater Kenya. Kenya's happiness rating slid last year to position 114 out of the 143 countries surveyed. The country’s public universities face a huge financial crisis, partly due to the new funding model.

In spite of these hardships that the nation is going through on daily basis, there is a brighter side to these economic and social challenges. There is a tonne of reasons for Kenyans to be more optimistic this year. Optimism is essential for any achievement as it’s also the foundation of purpose, courageous actions and true national progress.

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Hard work

The country’s GDP, which stood at $113 billion in 2024 is at its best, and  ranks 7th in Africa. Kenya’s democratic and constitutional 2010 governance structures all are models for others and ranks among the top 10 in Africa. The nation’s culture of persistence and hard work are impressive which has made a large number of Kenya’s living in the diaspora remarkable communities.

The distance between national goals and realities are simply actions taken by savvy, competent, ethical and patriotic leaders who command huge trust from the public. The first indispensable driver of future-proof, happier Kenya is a deep trust generated by all of the country’s institutional leaders and technocrats.

The second one is consolidated social capital in the development of communities. The questions are; why and how are trust and social capital in community development critical for Kenya’s socio-economic prosperity? What could the country’s leadership teams in all branches achieve if they worked at full potential and what is keeping them from achieving it?

Trustworthy leadership together with strong social capital are the predictors of economic success. The circumference and centre of national prosperity is trustworthy leadership across all sectors. The assumed acronyms of the 10 letters of LEADERSHIP tells it all. Loyalty, empathy, abilities, dependable, effective, reliable, sincere, honesty, insightful, performance (with passion, persistent, result-oriented).

The magnet of effective leaders are these 10 qualities which make leaders to attract massive trust from their respective followers and leave behind great legacy at the right time. Therefore, Kenyans need reborn trustworthy leadership to continue freeing the nation from poverty, ignorance, diseases, mediocrity traps and under performance. 

This is the time to declare war against indiscipline, corruption and under performance. Security and safety should be the performance drivers of all the sectors of the nation.

Social capital is another indispensable factor in the peace and prosperity of communities. Even the United Nations Development Goals Principle of Leave no one behind (LNOB) emphasises the role social capital plays in community development everywhere.

Here social capital means, connection among individuals, family, social networks, the culture of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. When Nelson Mandela said, “Let there be work, bread, due care, water and salt for all,” the emphasis was on the values of social capital driven by faith, peace, love and unity. This is the bottom up approach for Kenya’s Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030.

Happier nation

Majority of Kenyans view 2025 with optimism, it's a year of good expectations. The drivers of this positive expectations should be trustworthy leadership with low self-orientations. The use of social capital to achieve the principle of LNOB requires trustworthy leadership, policies and institutional capacities to promote equality, economic prudence and participation of all stakeholders.

Making Kenya a future-proof, happier nation is the duty of all our leaders and elites. The time is now for all of the nation’s employees to hold a mirror up to themselves, work at full capacity and act as ambassadors of exemplary performance, passion and prosperity. They should remove the words, defeat, failure and indiscipline from their dictionaries. Kenyans deserve the best in 2025.