Elias Mibei🇰🇪

William Ruto scored several own goals today. First, he is presented as listening to a child who, on a normal weekday, should be in school but instead is attending a political rally dressed in a UDA outfit. That should not be celebrated. It should concern us. If a school-going child is at a political rally in the middle of a school day, what does that say about the state of our education system? Education is a constitutional right, and the responsibility of government is to ensure that children are in school, learning in safe environments, regardless of their parents’ financial circumstances. A President should be asking why that child is not in class, not turning the situation into a political moment. And the problems raised are what the majority of Kenyans are facing. A ‘blessing’ we can thank his regime for. Then comes the issue of healthcare. The President pledges KSh2 million to facilitate the treatment of a sick Kenyan who has been brought to meet him in Bomet. And you have to ask: Kwani SHA hudo? Hasn't this government repeatedly told Kenyans that the SHA/SHIF is the solution to the country's healthcare problems? Haven't we been told that under SHA, Kenyans should no longer be forced into financial ruin simply because they fall sick? If a sick Kenyan has to be physically brought before the President for a personal pledge of KSh2 million before they can access treatment, then we have to ask some uncomfortable questions about whether the system is actually working. A President should not have to become a personal medical fundraiser for Kenyans. Government is not supposed to operate on presidential generosity. It is supposed to operate through functional institutions, policies and systems that serve citizens whether the President knows them personally or not. This is the fundamental problem with politics built around handouts and personal intervention. One Kenyan gets KSh2 million because their story reaches the President. What about the thousands of other sick Kenyans whose stories never reach State House, a political rally, or a presidential podium? One child gets heard because they happen to be standing in front of the President. What about millions of children who simply need functioning schools, affordable education and a government that takes their future seriously? We must stop confusing presidential generosity with good governance. Good governance is when the system works without requiring a citizen to meet the President personally. If SHA works, a sick Kenyan should receive the care they are entitled to without needing the President to personally intervene. If the education system works, a child should be in school on a weekday instead of being at a political rally. These are not merely isolated incidents. They expose a bigger question about the state of our institutions. Kenya does not need a President who personally solves a few individual problems in front of cameras. Kenya needs a government that builds systems capable of solving those problems for millions of people without presidential intervention. That is the difference between charity and governance. And today, William Ruto scored several own goals by inadvertently reminding Kenyans just how far we still are from a government where the systems actually work.