From becoming the first-ever sitting President of a sovereign nation to be dragged to International Criminal Court (ICC) corridors to answer to charges of crimes against humanity, to being the first President to be elected under the 2010 constitution, Uhuru Kenyatta will undoubtedly leave behind a 'rich' legacy of many firsts.
By Ndung'u Wa Gathua
President Kenyatta will go down in books of history as the first ever Kenyan President to be elected from his making of lemonade from lemons.
This is after Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto, another ICC indictee then, used the very serious charges they were facing to emotionally appeal to their voting blocks which turned the ICC tide to their favour; instead of sinking to abyss, the cases soared them to high skies.
UhuRuto's ICC indictments, was the first time the court opened a case without receiving any referral which would proceed to become the first of such cases to be terminated and the accused set free.
Elected in 2013 on the promise of breathing freshness to the presidency that for many decades had been dominated by elderly presidents, Uhuru would too become Kenya's first 'digital' president after making technology a huge campaign issue in order to appeal to youthful electorates. You remember well the 'digital-versus-analogue' mantra that gained traction during and after the run-up to 2013 General Election.
For the first time, Uhuru made the Kenyan youth feel like they had one of their own at the top office and who would address their perennial problems that had widely been ignored by the previous regimes.
However, as many would rudely come to realize shortly thereafter, everything 'youth' started and ended with that 'feel'.
Once Uhuru got to the office, his immediate agenda apparently was not the youth. His main focus was to first shed-off the ICC tag of shame that hang conspicuously on his neck threatening to make him a pariah president and the Kenyan State as a whole.
He would eventually overcome that but even as he was being let off the ICC hook, his administration at home had already entered in the records as the first-ever new Kenyan regime to be riddled in endless multi-billion shilling scandals within a very short period of its existence.
In a super-quick succession came in; the Jet scandal, the alleged Standard Gauge Railway scam, NYS scandal, the controversial Sh250 billion Eurobond alleged scam, Sh800 million mobile clinics theft among others, all during his first term in office.
Consequently, a sustained public uproar culminating from the runaway thuggery of public resources would see Uhuru become the first president to publicly admit that the presidency had been infiltrated by corrupt elements.
During the same time he would also become the first President to name and shame his cabinet members and other high profile government officials at the floor of Parliament where he would ask them to step aside as a result. He got a standing ovation for that. Regrettably, all that fanfare and glamour started and ended there.
The next time the President would be heard again speaking about graft was during a State House anti-corruption summit where he would cry wolf as he yet again spearheaded another first. Yes, he would publicly admit he was helpless about the daylight thuggery that continued to ravage his government right left and centre to Kenyans utter surprise and dismay.
Today, as we head to the homestretch of his 10-year presidency, Uhuru is again warming up for another first. Yes. The first president to implement the 2010 constitution in its fullness, and the first one to oversee its 'mutilation' in the name of the so-called Building Bridges Initiative.
Now you get; Uhuru's legacy is uncontestably 'rich', only that it is one of many tattered firsts!
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