YVONNE'S TAKE: Kenyans are not resisting development, it's leadership without trust

Kenyans are not resisting development. They are resisting leadership without trust. And until that trust is rebuilt, even the boldest ambitions, from housing to livestock vaccination, from finance bills to health partnerships, will meet resistance.

Since this administration came into office, we have seen the launch of a dizzying array of initiatives: the hustler fund to empower the informal sector, the affordable housing programme, nationwide teacher recruitment, massive infrastructure projects, the social health insurance fund, and the now-famous livestock vaccination campaigns.

These projects are meant to embody his “bottom-up” economic transformation agenda. Yet, almost every one has sparked debate, criticism, or outright protest.

The reasons are not complicated. At their core, they reflect a trust deficit. Citizens are skeptical that promises will be delivered, that sacrifices will be shared fairly, or that rules will be applied evenly.

This mistrust is historical, predating the current administration, but it has been deepened rather than healed.

Consider the finance bill protests of 2024.

Kenyans were asked to bear additional tax burdens while living costs were already high. Even if the economic rationale was sound, the sequencing, pain before promised gain , created outrage. Or take the nationwide livestock vaccination drive.

Ambitious in scale, it triggered practical questions about logistics, cold-chain capacity, and funding, questions that were met with limited explanation.

And when citizens asked about foreign partnerships, such as the us-Kenya health framework, they were effectively told to take their questions to the united states.

Responses like these- sharp, dismissive, or deflective do more than frustrate; they erode the very trust needed to implement policy.

Trust is not built by force, by slogans, or even by the promise of development. It is earned, consistently, visibly, and often at cost. Lee Kuan yew, in transforming Singapore, understood this.

He treated corruption as existential, prosecuted the powerful without fear, paid public servants well to remove incentives for graft, enforced rules predictably, and respected citizens enough to explain trade-offs honestly.

Singaporeans complied not because they were intimidated, but because the system was fair, predictable, and credible. He did not ask for blind trust; he made trust rational.

Kenya cannot simply borrow Singapore's ambition without investing in trust as its foundation. Citizens will not leap into high-stakes reforms if they feel unheard, dismissed, or misled. Development without trust becomes coercion, and coercion always meets resistance.

All hands on deck, therefore, cannot be a slogan; it must be a call for partnership built on respect, transparency, and consistency. Leaders must answer questions with patience, explain decisions before enforcing them, apply sacrifices evenly, and demonstrate integrity visibly.

Trust is infrastructure. Without it, even the fastest roads, the largest houses, or the most ambitious reforms will be met with skepticism, delays, and, in some cases, outright opposition.

The lesson is clear: Kenyans are not refusing to work. They are refusing to leap without a safety net of trust. And until that safety net is woven, the country’s boldest visions, the dream of a disciplined, productive, and thriving Kenya, will remain just that: a dream.