This past week was dominated by election talk. The predictably calm Rwandan local leaders’ elections kicked off the carnival of sorts before casting yours truly a confessed news junkie, onto a merry-go-round!

From the US party primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire to the Ugandan presidential candidates’ debate, it was politics unusual! Not even the most seasoned political analysts could call the outcomes.

Having grown up in Uganda, my earliest recollections of political discourse are dominated by that famous speech given by Uganda’s incumbent president at his swearing-in ceremony in January 1986.

The nation and indeed time seemed to stand still as he stated among other things that "This is not a mere change of guards…..this is a fundamental change!”

I was only seven at the time and could scarcely comprehend the depth of the speech but I can tell you that some of the words were truly memorable. Most Ugandans who were of age at the time can clearly remember where they were as those words bellowed over the radio for the first time.

Words, when deployed tactfully have an uncanny way of capturing the human imagination.

Think of "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat!” in Winston Churchill’s 1940 speech during World War II which is still referenced today to show determination.

Nelson Mandela’s last words in court before being imprisoned in 1964 were equally deep;”I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society…. if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die!”

History is loaded with famous words that precipitated events of great political significance.

Recent events however, seem to suggest that we may need to refer to history books to enjoy a dose of powerful political oratory. The signs are clear all around us.

Barack Obama’s oratory skills are by today’s standards impeccable. His 2004 democratic national convention keynote speech set the ball rolling for his later ascendancy to the White House.

Lately, even he has struggled to find a captive audience. On his trip to Africa in July 2015, his well structured and bold farewell speech seemed to fall on deaf ears at the AU Headquarters in Addis-Ababa!

Is this loss of power of the spoken word necessarily a bad thing?

My argument is on the contrary. While it is true that good oratory has always acted as a powerful tool in the face of the improbable, in Africa’s past experience it has masked a lot of ineptitude and in most cases we ended up with a lot of talk without the complimentary ‘Walk’.

While men like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Milton Obote of Uganda and Patrice Lumumba had the lofty ideas and the gumption to fight for independence, the report cards of their management of government affairs make for abysmal reading.

Their words still possess the charm of yesteryear but their countries are still grappling with the spillovers of some of their managerial shortcomings up to this today.

The rise of the practical man or woman for that matter is an exciting proposition in today’s politics. These are professionals with their feet firmly on the ground. Think of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Europe and the more recently elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Even the usually more conservative religious leadership has not been left out. In 2013, the elevation to the papacy of an Argentine cardinal with known Jesuit inclinations towards frugality was a big surprise for the global Roman Catholic Church.

Within the region, the recent victory of John Pombe Magufuli in the Tanzanian presidential elections of 2015 and his subsequent policy changes towards tighter government expenditure is a further indicator that this trend has indeed caught on across the world.

If this movement needs a patron, they should look no further than our very own President. His perennial message of home-grown solutions is firmly based on practicality.

While other nations may have more experience and resources, under President Paul Kagame, Rwanda has repeatedly beaten the odds by uncannily meeting her own challenges with unique approaches that may be difficult to reproduce in any other part of the world.

Think Gacaca courts, refugee resettlement, Agaciro Development Fund, the list goes on.

Where exemplary leadership options are depleted such as in the US today, the rise of the likes of the billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump with his unmasked racism is no accident; in essence it’s a protest vote.

The people are willing to try anyone with demonstrated practical skills regardless of his moral stance!

In Uganda, the opposition’s argument is that Yoweri Museveni has outlasted his usefulness. That is open to debate. A more pressing question goes to the opposition; what have the individuals done for their people beyond political agitation?

Show them the schools, hospitals and national agricultural schemes you have spearheaded for the public then the people can listen to you talk about accelerated progress!

In the words of Museveni, "they don’t know how to start small and build big.”

The curtain is surely being drawn on rhetoric and political demagoguery. In the high school politics of twenty or so years ago, candidates impressed would be voters by reciting big English words crammed in a night’s worth of dictionary reading.

In every sense, those days are long gone!

For those below forty and aspiring to politics, the leaders of the immediate future be warned. You shall be judged by deeds and not words (Matthew 7:16) – ‘stolen’ from Museveni’s words at the presidential candidates’ debate on Saturday 13th February.

Like Winston Churchill, there are men and women of all seasons; the archetypal political chameleons. Gifted with both the ability to talk powerfully and possessing lots of practical experience, they belong in a kind of political "No man’s land”. Museveni is part of this dying breed.

Whatever the outcome of Uganda’s election on February 18th, the message is clear. The world is at the beginning of a new epoch where no amount of talking will appease the masses.

Let us roll up our sleeves and get to work!

The author is a consultant and trainer specializing in finance and strategy based in Kigali.