Wajackoyah faults Kenya for lacking sustainable governance
By William Muthama, July 23, 2025Roots Party leader and legal scholar George Wajackoyah has criticised Kenya’s political leadership for its chronic failure to develop forward-thinking policies.
He argued that the country is stuck in a cycle of reactive governance, adopting foreign policies without tailoring them to local contexts and waiting for crises before acting.
Speaking during a local radio interview on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, Wajackoyah said Kenya’s policy approach is either “borrowed” or “event-driven”, with no sustained effort to build systems that anticipate challenges before they erupt.
“We don’t plan. We wait for a disaster, then hold press conferences. That’s not governance,” Wajackoyah remarked.
He cited the example of countries like Israel that have institutionalised early warning systems and long-term preparedness protocols.
According to him, these nations succeed not by chance but because they plan ahead and build resilience into every layer of their government operations, something Kenya lacks.
Short-term thinking
Wajackoyah blamed successive governments for being driven by money and political survival rather than strategic national interest.
He said that much of Kenya’s policymaking is influenced by donor agendas or external models, with little thought given to whether such frameworks match the country’s unique socio-economic and political realities.
He argued that Kenya’s tendency to “copy and paste” foreign strategies without adapting them has created confusion, inefficiency, and deepening inequality.
The result, he said, is a country perpetually caught off guard, unable to respond coherently to security threats, economic shocks, or public health crises.
“There’s no national ideology anchoring our decisions,” he said. “Every five years, we start afresh.”
Wajackoyah urged Kenyan leaders to ditch the culture of last-minute solutions and begin designing sustainable, locally grounded policies.
He said development must be guided by data, foresight, and a firm grasp of Kenya’s evolving needs.
“This country can rise,” he concluded, “but only if we stop mimicking and start thinking. Policy isn’t about PR; it’s about planning for tomorrow, today.”