Fresh blood vs old guard: Why experience is overrated in 2027 polls

Edwin Sifuna and Kalonzo Musyoka during Linda Mwananchi Party launch in Lavington, Nairobi on October 30, 2026. [Stafford Ondego, Standard] 

One of the youthful presidential candidates for next year's polls, Edwin Sifuna, has been accused of being inexperienced to lead the country.

An interesting accusation, considering we all want to stay young forever!  Why else do our over 60-year-old leaders have “black hair”?

Leading 55 million Kenyans, or any country, is no easy feat, and experience can be an asset, especially when it’s a democracy.

I have realised the Importance of experience as I grow older. I have met so many people, gone through so many experiences, both bad and good, that making decisions becomes easier.  

That is why marriage is a challenge for most couples; everything is new despite the counselling. Did I hear second marriages are better after “experiences”? Any takers to confirm?

One of the tools of experience is tacit knowledge, acquired over time, personal and hard to share. You may not know you have it until decision time.

You hear something like, “I never thought about that.”  Such knowledge quickens our decisions; you have precedence and information.

A good example of tacit knowledge is: can you explain to someone how to tie a tie, but you know how to? How do we salt food without weighing the salt?

Traditionally, every community had its leaders who got into ranks through experience. The leadership knowledge could only be gained through experience.

Why did they prefer hereditary kings or chiefs? Did they try to make it easier to gain experience by restricting it? 

One thing that equates Africa to advanced economies like Japan or Sweden is the presence of royal families.

Traditionally, there was no “acceleration” into leadership through schooling like today.  That raises an interesting question: should education override experience in leadership?

It depends on the field. In computer science, experience might be a liability. I learnt FORTRAN, COBOL and PASCAL in undergraduate.

Who uses that today? You need R or Python, among others. But in " people-intensive” fields like politics or management, experience may be an asset. Why maybe? It’s country-specific.

In a country where the average age is high, like, say, Japan, elderly leaders might be more at home with their voters.

In Kenya, that might be a liability; your subjects are younger and could be disconnected from them. Did you listen to Gen Z protesters keenly?

I have noted that disconnection as I grow older in academia. The gap between me and my students becomes wider.

Students’ average age remains the same. Since they can’t get into my world, I have to go down to theirs, knowing who Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Katseye are.

That is how a younger presidential candidate gets a competitive advantage.  He is "closer” to the majority of Kenyans; 70 per cent are 35 years or younger.

Their economic activities are tied to the phone or internet. That’s why I had to shift to WhatsApp; my students told me Facebook is old school. 

Unless younger leaders fail to internalise the thinking of the next generation and its aspirations, they should be “at home” with them.

The old generation knows of this “connection”, hence framing inexperience as a barrier to entry. Politicians are strategists; hate them or like them. 

History is also “against” younger candidates. Kenya has been ruled by the elderly. Jomo Kenyatta, Moi, Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Moody Awori, among others.

Add the traditions, where the elderly led. In the corporate world, education, exposure and charisma can override experience.

But the belief in the political world seems different; Uhuru Kenyatta was the youngest president at inauguration, at 51. But there is nothing wrong with breaking records. JFK Kennedy was 43.

The belief that education can override experience is one reason postgraduate programmes are so popular, status aside. 

That overriding is possible if the school curriculum deliberately goes beyond textbooks with internships, industrial visits, guest lectures, study abroad or case studies.

Did Sifuna accelerate into leadership through working with Raila and other leaders? Did his urban experience also help him accelerate through leadership? What if the much-taunted experience is the wrong one?

Is experience not built? Even the most experienced started somewhere! The most convincing reason why lack of experience is an asset is that one can break with the past and start afresh.

We want that in careers, marriage, houses, clothes, and other activities. Why not in politics?

Politics and law love precedents, which are enemies of innovation. And our politics lacks innovation, even regressing to goonism.  What is the "iPhone of our politics"?

Can we borrow from the US, whose constitution we adopted in some sections? The country did well with younger leaders like Obama or Clinton.

The big worry is always how to sort youthful exuberance in such leaders. Reality and time do the sorting. 

Instead of declaring some candidates as inexperienced, why not let each candidate sell their manifesto and let voters decide objectively, devoid of emotions, who is best qualified to lead them?   After all, we have the Constitution and laws to guide any leader, which makes experience less of an asset.

We can’t end this debate without quoting Dr Harvi Millar, a Canadian professor, jazz player and a guest speaker at a recent conference at the University of Nairobi.

He asked, “If AI will do the routine jobs, how will managers gain experience?” Politics has few automated routines; we are unlikely to get candidates who are inexperienced!

Let’s hope voters are rational; they know what they want and who they want, and their decisions are not based on raw emotions. They will rank all the leaders based on their history, consistency, credentials, achievements and potential to transform this country.

Noted how Kenyans are tired mentally and emotionally? We need someone who can make us exhale, despite his or her age.

Let’s be academic; how would you test if age is an asset in leadership? How would you isolate other internal and external factors?