# Leaders must learn to interpret shifting ground

Our elected political leaders are failing to grasp and interpret the mood of the voters, or they are assuming it will be business as usual going forward.

An interesting thing happened in Nakuru on Friday last week at the funeral for the brother of an MP when mourners heckled politicians, who never seem to learn.

They are not quick to assess the mood of the voters, especially now when the atmosphere is poisoned after the acrimonious impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that was backed by most members of the National Assembly from Mt Kenya. These were the leaders at the burial, no wonder “Wanjiku” saw it fit to pay back in kind.

This might be the situation that will replicate across the other regions that felt let down by their representatives. These elected leaders are in a tight spot going forward. The little faith and hope that most Kenyans still had in them seem to have evaporated overnight. They must go back to the drawing board and think on how to build trust again.

Disillusion and despair have crept in and what happened in Nakuru might deeply inform how Kenyans now view their leaders; they feel betrayed. The schism will take long to patch and might mean the end of some promising careers, especially from areas that feel let down.

It is baffling that most leaders have not realised the evolving might of “Wanjiku” since we embraced pluralism. The time when leaders held sway and rode roughshod over the people, who then cheered them on is long gone.

The people now know their rights and are ready to prove it. They will boldly pinpoint the nakedness of a leader in public.

The leaders are living a lie by thinking they will remain popular even after injuring the conscience of their electors. It is time the leaders took the backseat and allowed the wounds to heal. This is not the time to add insult to injury. Wise leaders should have seen it coming during “public participation” and taken cover. They didn’t have to show their appearance so soon in public, thinking it is business as usual.

Their presence showed a lack of political wisdom. They should hibernate to let tempers cool and come out later. A song by the late Bob Marley says “you can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” He goes on to urge his listeners to stand up for their rights.

**David M. Kigo, Nairobi**