A CASE STUDY FOR UHURUTO DUO

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little - Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In world politics, no single statesman has been as dominant and influential as America’s 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also popularly known as FDR (1883-1945). FDR was a cripple who overcame the effects of a debilitating polio attack not just to become a lawyer and leading politician; he subsequently became the leader of the Democratic Party, built a New Deal Coalition that realigned American politics after 1932 and ended up being the only person who has ever been elected four consecutive terms in the USA. FDR remains the only American President to serve for more than eight years. In November 1932, FDR triumphed over the incumbent president, Herbert Hoover, with a bouncy popular song, “Happy Days are Here!” at the deepest end of the Great Depression. To millions of American voters, FDR was the epitome of decisiveness, perseverance, courage, determination and unflinching optimism. FDR used these traits to renew the American national spirit and rallied not just Americans to confront the Great Depression and both Germany and Japan during the Second World War; he also worked closely with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to rally the Allied Forces to victory. In his first 100 days in office, which began on March 4, 1933, FDR spearheaded major legislation and issued a plethora of executive orders that instituted the New Deal, which comprised a variety of pragmatic programs designed to create jobs for the unemployed, economic recovery and growth and targeted financial reforms aimed at regulating the Wall Street, banks and the transportation sector. FDR refused to allow his sorry physical human condition and the tragic ravages of the Great Depression and the Second World War to dampen his spirit and incapacitate him. Unlike any American President before or after him, he would cheerfully use a wheelchair and drive himself around, waving to the bemused crowds. To FDR, brain power and strength of character were the only determinants on success or failure. Throughout his four consecutive electoral victories and administrations, FDR was singularly focused on the needs of his citizens and how he could address those challenges; not how much he, his relatives, cronies and friends could extract from the public. But he also understood – long before the ferocious onslaught of modern PR and image consultants – that in politics more than in any other occupation, perception counts as much as good deeds. So, he went beyond optics and public theatre. He plunged headlong into his duties; conceived of and initiated substantive new policies, legislations and executive orders that sought to use both the poverty and hunger created by the Great Depression and the need for personnel and munitions by the Second World War. By 1942, FDR’s pragmatic policies, far-sightedness and decisive actions resulted in the reduction of unemployment to two per cent. Once this happened, the relief programs he had initiated to prevent the unemployed and economically disadvantaged from falling to the bottom of the pit were terminated. The industrial economy he had built using the war effort grew rapidly as millions of Americans moved to new, well-paying jobs in war centres. Asked to explain how he had done it, FDR quipped: “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on…In politics, nothing happens by accident; if it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Is the current governance crisis in Kenya planned? About 500days ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Deputy President William Samoei Ruto were sworn in after leading the Jubilee Coalition to victory over the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord). Like FDR before them, the Jubilee team campaigned using a bouncy song: “We are the Digital Duo!” They were chic. They were breezy. They were young. And they were dazzling. But unlike FDR’s “Happy Days are Here;” the Jubilee tune had two distinct messages: TNA’s “I Believe” and URP’s “Kusema na Kutenda!” Many are convinced that TNA’s “I Believe” was more poetry than a concrete policy shift and commitment. But it also contained a germ of idealism. It urged Kenyans to trust and believe in themselves. It appealed to our sense of nationalism and patriotism. Implicitly, it was a moral exhortation for acceptance and support presumably based on their dilemma over the ICC cases. As far as political election messages go, TNA’s was the real McCoy. Short, crisp and memorable. On the other hand, URP’S tune was controversially premised on ‘record,’ ‘history’ and ‘integrity.’ URP promised “delivery on their word”. It boldly said, ‘Our Word is Our Bond.’kenyans are watching.