When the President becomes his own biggest opposition

One truth should unite all citizens regardless of political affiliation. No patriotic Kenyan should wish for a bad President. The presidency is too important an institution. When a President succeeds within the Constitution, the country benefits.

Investors gain confidence, businesses expand, jobs are created and institutions grow stronger.

Conversely, when a President governs poorly, everyone pays the price. The cost is measured in economic statistics, declining public trust, weakened institutions, lost opportunities and growing national frustration. That is why democratic criticism is never meant to make a President fail.

Its purpose is to encourage better leadership. Politics, however, presents an interesting paradox. Sometimes a government becomes so consumed by protecting power that it weakens itself. Not because the opposition becomes brilliant, but because its own decisions erode the public confidence on which authority rests.

Kenya appears to be approaching such a moment. The Gen Z demonstrations of June 2024 should have been a turning point. Young Kenyans were communicating more than opposition to a Finance Bill. They were expressing frustration over the cost of living, unemployment, corruption, excessive taxation, police brutality and the widening gap between the governing class and ordinary citizens.

Those concerns did not disappear when the demonstrations ended. Subsequent commemorations have shown that the grievances remain alive. Public dissatisfaction has evolved into a broader national conversation about governance, accountability and the relationship between the State and its citizens.

This is where governments must exercise wisdom. Political grievances require political solutions. Economic grievances require economic solutions. Institutional grievances require institutional reforms. Treating all of them mainly as security challenges addresses symptoms while leaving causes untouched.

History repeatedly teaches that governments lose legitimacy not because citizens suddenly become unreasonable, but because leaders stop listening. Every administration makes mistakes. What distinguishes successful governments from unsuccessful ones is the willingness to acknowledge errors, adjust course and rebuild confidence.

Unfortunately, when leaders are surrounded by people who reward loyalty more than honesty, constructive criticism disappears. Cabinet meetings become echo chambers. Public relations replace public engagement. Every criticism is dismissed as propaganda, every protest as sabotage, and every opponent as an enemy of the State.

That approach rarely strengthens a government. It weakens it. Public trust erodes. Official explanations become less credible. Government announcements are greeted with scepticism. Even genuinely beneficial policies struggle to gain acceptance because confidence has already been lost.

Recent controversies illustrate this challenge. Whether it is the cost of living, public debt, the Housing Levy, mandatory annual vehicle inspections, police conduct during demonstrations or the continuing perception that corruption remains insufficiently addressed, many Kenyans increasingly ask the same question. Is government listening.

That question should concern every leader. Power in a constitutional democracy does not rest solely on legal authority. It rests on public legitimacy. Legitimacy cannot be manufactured through force, publicity campaigns or repeated assurances that everything is under control. It must be earned daily through competence, transparency, humility and respect for the Constitution.

Ironically, leaders who spend enormous energy trying to silence criticism often achieve the opposite. Every unnecessary confrontation creates headlines. Every broken promise deepens cynicism. Every attempt to intimidate critics convinces more citizens that the criticism was justified.

The result is that government becomes its own greatest political opponent. The opposition merely gives voice to frustrations that government actions have already created.

This should not be celebrated. Kenya cannot prosper through perpetual confrontation. Investors prefer stability. Young people need jobs, not endless political conflict. Farmers need functioning markets. Businesses require predictable policies. Parents want affordable education and accessible healthcare. The country moves forward only when government focuses more on solving problems than managing narratives.

Ronald Reagan once observed that the presidency is not personal property, but temporary custody of an institution belonging to the people. That captures constitutional democracy. The presidency belongs to Kenya, not to the person occupying the office. Every President is its temporary trustee. The office derives dignity from confidence, restraint and service.

Ultimately, history is remarkably fair. It does not judge presidents by speeches delivered, rallies addressed or battles won. It asks simpler questions. Did citizens live better than before. Were institutions strengthened or weakened. Did government unite the nation or deepen divisions. Did power serve the people, or did people become instruments for preserving power.

These are questions every administration must answer. No President faces a greater opponent than the consequences of his own decisions. When leaders stop listening, abandon humility and mistake authority for invincibility, they construct the obstacles that eventually stand in their path. The greatest threat to a presidency is not the opposition. It is the erosion of public trust caused by avoidable mistakes. Once that trust is lost, no political power can easily restore it.