Pragmatism required to make Kenya middle-income economy

Often, the world is divided different viewpoints. In the last century, it was between communists and capitalists. In the theory of Law, the two main groups are the naturalists and the positivists.

But maybe the biggest two groups, who stand diametrically opposed and span the whole globe across all borders, are the idealists and the pragmatists. Most of human history can be understood as a struggle between these two worldviews.

While pragmatists are prone to compromises, idealists only strive to fulfil their set of inner beliefs without any trade-offs. This leads many people to adore the idealist, and to hold him or her in high esteem. Many value this unwavering zeal in pursuit of lofty goals.

Without a doubt, every society needs some idealists. They are very important to pushing limits and often introduce radical, positive new ideas into the public discourse.

But a country cannot let itself be led by idealists.

First of all, every time idealists have been in power, it has ended in disaster. Just take Communism, as an example, which left millions of people dead all over the world. What started as an idea of good people, wanting the best for the poor and downtrodden of the world, ended in uncountable atrocities which gave the world the word gulag.

Here in Kenya, we need to be guided by a government of true pragmatists. Instead of waiting for general conditions to improve, they need to start working right away. One has to play the deck of cards one is dealt.

This explains why some critics can always find some issues to criticise when it comes to the government’s actions. Granted, not everything they do is perfect; but they are a government of pragmatists, not of idealists – results are all that matters. They know that they need the broad support of the Kenyan people for every reform they envision and implement.

This pragmatism seems to have been the guiding principle of President Kenyatta since his re-election. Its most obvious manifestation was the handshake between the President and Raila Odinga. After a long political life as adversaries, the two put their previous disagreements aside in order to work together for a better future.

The wider Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) follows the same route. Instead of government bureaucrats imposing an ideology from the top on the people, the BBI works the other way around. The government comes towards the people and listens to the ideas of every Kenyan in order to improve the way the government runs.

The President’s flagship government programme, the Big Four, is another example of this pragmatism. Instead of making everything his priority, and promising improvements and government investments in all areas like an idealist would do, Uhuru focussed the efforts on what he considered the most crucial issues for the average Kenyan.

Of course, focussed energy has much more impact than widely dispersed energy. Thus, this pragmatic way chosen by Uhuru is the only way to make Kenya prosper and attain the status of middle-income economy by 2030.