If Ruto must go, all other leaders who've failed must go too

President William Ruto with Prime Cabinet Secratary Musalia Mudavadi and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula during the launch of Shirikiana Sacco on June 13, 2026.[PCS]

Why are we so fixated on the presidency? Yes, fish rot from the head. Yes, when the lead sheep limps, the flock cannot reach the pastures. The main pillar holds the building, but small pillars help to strengthen it. The rest of the shoal, the children, the mothers, all make it complete.

Picture an MP who has never moved a motion, cannot articulate lawmaking, yet dishes out bursaries to relatives while misusing CDF. A Woman Rep who pours NGAAF into dubious projects that never reach youth or women. A senator who eats with the governor, bribed to shout hoarse impeaching Rigathi Gachagua and Kawira Mwangaza, but defends his own corrupt governor. The mess runs to State House.

So, it becomes Ruto this, Ruto that. If we say Ruto must go, underperforming legislators and governors must go too. They fuel national decay daily. Ruto is one person. Yes, pace setter. Yes, his government has made grave mistakes. Yes, corruption is rife.

Yes, State House overspent Kibaki and Uhuru combined. Controller of Budget showed State House spent Sh8.1 billion in 2023/24 against Sh4 billion approved, while debt hit Sh11.1 trillion by mid-2024. Those are sins voters must judge in 2027. If Ruto’s scorecard is messy, identify those who must retire with him.

America teaches Kenya: Power is never in one office. In the US, presidential and congressional elections are battles for governing power. House has 435 members; the Senate 100. Midterms can flip control. In 2022, Democrats kept the Senate 51-49 but lost the House 222-213, and Biden's agenda stalled. That is the system of checks and balances.

Kenya turns elections into a presidential obsession. Who will defeat Ruto dominates TV, rallies, polls, WhatsApp, Facebook, while millions ignore Parliament, assemblies and counties. Yet the 2010 Constitution gives no monopoly to the President.

Parliament makes laws, controls expenditure, and exercises oversight. National Assembly has 349 members. Senate has 67, represents counties, oversees over Sh400 billion shared annually to counties. County assemblies have 1,450 MCAs making county laws. Forty-seven governors run devolved functions worth Sh576 billion in 2024/25, including health, agriculture, local roads, and Early Childhood Education.

An MCA may lack the national spotlight, but assembly decisions affect roads, markets, clinics, and water. The Auditor General flagged 27 counties that were unable to account for Sh6 billion in own-source revenue in 2023. That is an MCA oversight failure.

An MP controls CDF, now Sh56 billion nationally, about Sh157 million per constituency yearly. Yet many still have mud classrooms and no pit latrines for sanitation. Learning poverty sits at 60 per cent, but CDF goes to half-done fences and ghost projects.

A Woman Rep controls NGAAF at Sh2.1 billion for bursaries, anti-FGM, GBV shelters, and table banking. How many shelters exist? A Senator protects devolution, but the Senate traded impeachment for favours, saving three governors in 2024 while counties owed Sh160 billion in pending bills.

A governor hires nurses, buys drugs, grades roads. Yet counties admitted Sh160 billion in pending bills in 2024, killing small suppliers. That is not State House. That is county rot.

Changing the State House occupant without changing the quality below leaves the machinery unchanged. We did it in 2002, 2013, 2017. Moi went, but Kanu councillors remained, and towns rotted badly.

Kenya must stop treating the presidential ballot as the whole election. It is one of six ballots. The nation is not governed by the President alone. It is governed by every elected leader with a mandate.

Focus must go to other spaces shaping daily life, corrupt trade unions, school boards stealing capitation, student leaders auctioning comrades, clan elders selling land decisions. When society enforces responsibility at the grassroots, we build a fair, just, accountable society without obsessing over the top.

Mr Nyaringo is a Kenyan public affairs commentator based in Washington, US