Titus Naikuni, Kenya Needs You, Will You Ignore Her?

There is no doubt that history will judge many prominent Kenyans very harshly indeed. It will be said of them that they stood and watched as the motherland went to the dogs… and they did absolutely nothing.

Is it the selfish streak so many of them seem to have of minding their own business and making money and staying away from the very murky waters that are politics in Kenya?

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It is instructive that in recent times many of them have discovered that if you stick to business and ignore the politics, the politics will not always ignore your business and sooner or later it will end up affecting your business. A perfect example of this happening was the beginning of this year when post election violence brought the entire country to a halt and nobody could transact any business.

I assume that I am talking to some of the most intelligent members of our society and it does not take a rocket scientist to tell that Kenya is not far from shut down the way our politics is going at the moment. So those who are determined not to have any involvement in Kenyan politics should make sure that they make all the money they can as quickly as possible over the next few months because the end is nigh.

Some very clever Kenyans in the run up to the 2007 elections had started floating the name of Titus Naikuni as a possible presidential candidate. Mr Naikuni who is the CEO of the national carrier, Kenya Airways dismissed the rumours and said that he had no interest in politics. He failed to get the hint or totally ignored it, I have no idea which.

If truth be told, Mr Naikuni is a great Kenyan who has done the country proud. Anybody who understands the airline industry will know that it is easier for a River Tana crocodile to ignore easy prey when it is hungry than for any airline in the world to make a profit. Indeed many have shut down and gone into bankruptcy in the recent past. However under very difficult circumstances the national carrier has consistently made profits under the guidance of Mr Naikuni.

Not only that, Mr Naikuni’s leadership skills have been tested time and again. Who will forget the KQ Doula (Cameroon) air disaster of last year and how Mr Naikuni offered leadership at a very difficult time for the airline?

It is clear that the leadership skills the KQ CEO has already displayed can be put to great use charting a new course for the ship called Kenya.

One of the great fears younger Kenyans have of getting into politics is that they always fear the extremely “dirty” nature of Kenyan politics. And with good reason. You see the rules were made by the current dinosaurs and were clearly designed to keep those more gifted and talented than themselves from making any headway in the Kenyan political arena. But as US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proved, it is possible to change the rules. So effective was Obama during the democratic primaries that at the end of the contest Hilary Clinton’s dirty tactics boomeranged back on her and proved completely ineffective.

What Kenya needs is a revolution and young Kenyans running multi million shilling corporations need to get involved pronto in mapping out a new direction for the country.

And don’t forget folks, we are already in injury time.

Over to you Mr Naikuni.

More information on Titus Naikuni

P.S. If they still have cold feet in this time of great crisis, prominent Kenyan CEOs can still play a key role by helping to identify appropriate candidates and then using their skills and resources to support them. They must realize that the entire crop of people calling themselves political leaders in Kenya today need to go home and pave way for a new generation, preferably born after independence in 1963. My two cents.