Growing up, I admired the Nyayo-era District Commissioners. These public servants were powerful; they were the epitome of Serikali. You see, when Migori was made a district, President Moi himself came to our humble Migori Stadium to unveil the new DC, Hassan Haji.
The new DC had this aura of power and authority, and Migorians were happy that at last, service was going to be closer to the people and that Serikali was keen to serve the people. Everyone was happy and as we were leaving the celebration – yes, those days we were loyal citizens and presidential functions and political functions wiere incomplete without mobilization – everyone went home happy. And as Henry Burlow says in his critically acclaimed poem, Building the Nation, we were good at staking our claims in “building the nation” by listening to politicians make promises that they never delivered anyway.
Well, initially I had harboured the ambition of being an MP because I saw it as such a powerful position with a pathway to the Vice President’s position. I was barely born when Prof George Siatoti published his seminal book The Challenges of Economic and Institutional Reforms in 1985 that marked him out as a technocrat per excellence and an economic policy powerhouse in Africa. But his pathway to the Vice Presidency had to take the parliamentary route through nominations in 1983 and appointment as a finance minister. Reading that history convinced me back then that for one to change the lives of the people it was not about academic prowess leadership in policy and administration but through parliament. Moi had to bring Prof Saitoti onboard Parliament and cabinet. Well, Prof Saitoti eventually plunged into competitive politics and won, but with the newly installed Migori DC, Hassan Haji my perception of power and influence and the thought of being an MP changed. There was a cool DC who was serving the people with power from above and yet he was so in touch with the locals. He was even playing for the local football team, Migori United.
It is not clear whether he was Migori United’s star midfielder on merit or the then coach Ahmed Kassim aka Amedu, was overawed by the presence of power to leave sir, as he was popularly known in football, out on the bench. But he was a good player, nevertheless.
You see, the DCs of Nyayo era were very powerful but even back then there were checks and balances and the voice of the people was never wished away, just to ensure that the greater good of the locals was served. There were stories of locals rejecting DCs and I recall sometimes towards the turn of the century a former charismatic DC was rejected in one of the Districts in Western province. This DC was a native of Luo Nyanza and when he was posted to Migori, after the humiliating rejection in Western that threatened his career, the people of Migori welcomed him with open arms. He rose from the Migori DC to the Nyanza provincial commissioner, and he is fondly remembered because he served with distinction. When I was in high school, I had the privilege of listening to this DC after he had ascended to the role of Provincial Commissioner and Migori had a special place in his life. He always paid a glowing tribute to the people. The people of Migori accepted him when the situation looked bleak, but from Migori he rose because of the people and the goodwill of the people.
The point here is the voice of the people in local service delivery and the extent to which today that power is with the people. Granted, we are in a much better place today as far as information is concerned, and unlike the Nyayo era, today a lot of resources are devolved to the counties. Suffice to say, today the people have an even more pronounced reason to be critical of the leadership, to accept and reject leadership that does not serve the public interest, especially political leadership because of its centrality in the allocation and distribution of resources.
Our expansive bill of rights in chapter four of the constitution allows the public an array of rights. With these rights and devolution of public resources to change lives and a media ecosystem that equips us with information from a variety of sources, the citizenry today has more power and more reasons to hold power accountable. But we will lose all these privileges if we allow governors who have served two terms to get to the Senate. It is their right but electing terminal governors as senators would usher us into a vicious cycle that will frustrate the perpetual wheels of justice.
Unsurprisingly, a few of these governors have earned the tickets of parties that are popular in their regions and there is no better way to remind the world that even with a lacuna in our constitution we can rise to the occasion and do that which is right and categorically imperative in the words of Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher and enlightenment thinker. Interestingly, these senatorial who have served as two-term governors are staunch supporters of presidential candidates and it’s no-brainer that they are certainly deceptive opportunists who know that their presidential candidates stand no chance but are clever enough to hang on political parties’ wave to cling to power as senators. If they believed that the coalition they support is winning, these retiring governors would be supporting the presidential campaign of their preferred presidential candidates and seek national positions. But because from whichever angle we look at it, it does seem that the motive for most of these senators is to cover their tracks, they are in it for personal expediency. They know very well that senate, as the custodian of devolution and the ultimate oversight platform for the county governments, provides an avenue for retributive justice; they want to be there to protect their interest and not the people.
The governor’s role is like the pinnacle of many politicians’ careers because you can only have so many ascend to the national level. But to have governors who’ve been privileged to serve seek senatorial or any other legislative and representative position is to cheapen the position of governors at best or allow impunity and mediocrity to creep into our sense of what is right at worst. We are well poised and informed to set the right precedence and Kenyans in counties with such governors should not disappoint.
The author is a PhD Candidate in Media Studies and Political communication.
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