It is not easy to find something good Ruto government has done

It is easy to dismiss Kenyans as a thankless people, incapable of seeing anything good in their present government. But the truth is, finding that one thing to be genuinely grateful for is increasingly becoming an impossible hack. While numbers depicting progress may look good on paper, they do not reflect the lived reality of most Kenyans.

Much like in personal relationships, happiness and trust are not sustained by grand gestures but by the consistent fulfillment of the bare minimum. When one party repeatedly fails to meet those basic expectations, resentment inevitably takes root. The same principle applies to the relationship between the Kenyan government and its citizens.

Today, almost every elected leader is flooding their social media feeds with photos of roads, classrooms or some not so well thought out buildings as proof that ‘they delivered’. At burials and rallies, the rhetoric is that the country, counties and the constituencies are doing well. This message is not only disingenuous; it is dismissive as it ignores the reality of millions who wake up each day to failed systems and a steadily declining quality of life.

Take education. Last month marked the first admission of Grade 10 students into Senior School under the new curriculum. The exercise was marred by so much confusion that parents were left to figure out placements on their own, even as they struggled to raise exorbitant fees demanded by institutions for their children to be admitted.

As politicians continue to trade blame, learners and teachers alike are grappling with missing learning materials, overcrowded classrooms and an unprepared system expected to kick-start the new curriculum. Many students remain at home, resigned and redirecting their lives because the very pathways introduced by the government have led them to dead ends.

Health care, which should be the very core of national responsibility, tells a sick story. Kenyans have been encouraged to walk into any health facility with the assurance that the government would take care of their medical bills. But the reality on the ground is totally different. While the government promised an efficient and inclusive system with the roll out of Social Health Authority (SHA), what patients face at health facilities is confusion and a system that is perpetually ‘down’.

In most facilities, being a registered member of SHA with fully paid premiums is but an administrative formality. Actual care depends on either private insurance or cash at hand. For a nation that has championed universal health coverage for decades, SHA, has gone all out to institutionalise uncertainty. It is a game of cards: You may get some cover, full cover or none at all. In a country where about 40 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, yet is still required to contribute to the scheme, such ambiguity only makes them ‘ungrateful and thankless’ citizens.

Then there is the youth crisis. A recent news report raised alarm over the number of Kenyans dying in the Russia-Ukraine war. These are not trained soldiers but civilians who left home to try their luck elsewhere. More heartbreaking than the deaths was the number of young Kenyans asking for connections to join the Russian army.

With formal employment saturated and the informal sector increasingly stifled, discouraging a desperate young man from matching to a battle field for a country they know little about is futile. As one young man put it, “It is better to die out there trying than to sit at home and watch my life go to waste". That statement alone should break the heart of every leader in this country.

Kenyans are not ungrateful. They just hoped for a government that meets them at the baseline. They hoped for systems that work, value for their taxes and a little respect for the work and sacrifice they put in every day to contribute to the growth of the economy.

As leaders step out to rally support and defend records, whichever side they align with, they would do well to remain alive to the everyday Kenyan experience lest they come out sounding like Maria Antoinette.

Ms Wekesa is a development communication consultant