Kenya is not out of the woods yet. The proposed constitution is likely to pass in the August 4 referendum despite the raging debate for or against it. After this, the next step will be to identify a leader who will apply the new constitution's provisions to change the country's status quo.

Although we are anticipating justice, equity, freedom, devolution and other pro-citizen provisions enshrined in the proposed law, success whether in business or government requires a superb leader.

Today, many Kenyans are living from hand to mouth. Some can’t afford even a graveyard. A young girl is raped but the culprit perambulates lackadaisically in the village while the victim wriggles in pain with no justice. A farmer in Nyamache District delivering tea to a buying centre is shortchanged by a tea clerk but no action is taken by relevant authorities.

If this happens in the grassroots, what about the top where our leaders are entrusted with managing our tax money in the tune of billions of  shillings? Our exchequer has been looted since independence but the culprits walk free. Some have allegedly undergone piritual transformation and are teaching us morality. What a phony way to fool Kenyans?

The corrupt of yesteryears are the ardent critics of the proposed constitution. They fear that it will unravel their past inequities and bring them to justice.

Whoever will be at the helm of steering this nation must be willing to use the “new bureaucracy” to lift our nation from the current abyss. He must be willing to defend and protect our national goods.

Although liberation from colonialism was received with a sigh of relief, it never relieved Kenyans. The hurrah and jubilation that will accompany the passage of the new constitution will not be enough in itself without the implementation of the new law to transform and restore our broken governance systems and processes.

Our “governance manual” is likely to change in August this year but we must be ready to elect person who will use the new manual to transform and restore our nation in the economic, social and political spheres. The person must be change minded and have the best interests of the electorate at heart. A good example is Barrack Obama, who understood the need of millions of Americans without health care Insurance and passed the healthcare bill that was a hard nut to crack by many former US Presidents.

This is the spirit we expect from those who want to take the Country’s leadership under the new constitution.

By Joseph Lister Nyaringo,

New Jersey, USA