Nairobi; Kenya: Taxpayers should prepare for more sucking of the economy, and sulking if the 47 ‘little presidents’ elected to manage the counties do not get their hearts’ desires.
As executives of the second-tier governments, it would be insubordinate to expect them to sell for less. If they settled for low, it would be difficult to tell them apart from the riff-raff of their counties.
But the governors are showing their appetite for paddings of power a little too soon. So soon they have forgotten they were elected to serve, rather than to lord and load it on tax-weary citizens of a struggling economy.
The governors’ haste to feather their nests, however, may be strategic: They want to demand as much as they can now, so the electorate gets used to the little kings created through the ballot.
But one can understand the governors’ demand for grandiose treatment, even though it is hard to sympathise with their raging appetites for clout. You see some of the governors grew up in the age of the last colonial sheriff Sir Malcom Macdonald, Her Majesty’s representative in the colony, where the sun never sets.
The last Governor lived in Government House, now State House, where President Uhuru Kenyatta took tenancy on Tuesday. It is the most exclusive address there was then, and still is. This was a pampered governor with all the trappings of power – “like other governors elsewhere”.
Governors born after independence in 1963, too, must have read about colonial governors. They know these people had real power. Our governors do not want anyone to begrudge them the right to step out in style. If they don’t how would you know they are governors?
Obvious also are the governors’ drift and the extent to which they would go to establish the 47 ‘little republics’ across the real Republic.
Their premise: “There are 48 governments – one national and 47 county governments. We must be accorded the respect we deserve as chief executive officers of the 47 counties.” In their estimation the 48th Government is that of the Republic of Kenya – the last among equals.
Then there is “the people’s government of Murang’a County”. The drift – Murang’a si Kenya – as insinuated in an advert last week is hard to miss. There is something communist sounding about “people’s government” – a kind of China-inspired assertiveness.
Now this talk of Kenya is a unitary State is muddying the waters for elected governors of ‘autonomous’ republics. They imagine that as the executives of 47 little republics, they get what they want, when they want. Any delay would amount to treating them like “little county commissioners”.
Since the 47 governors were elected by hundreds of thousands of you, they submit, it would be ‘unconstitutional’ to rank them at par or below county commissioners. County commissioners are appointees of one person – the President. The President is the head of the 48th government – one among equals.
If the governors do not get what they want officially, they would grab it. They would appropriate anything that boosts their clout and activates their scent of power. They have constituted a governors’ welfare committee to fight for their ‘constitutional’ rights. A trade union of sorts for ‘Your Excellencies the Governors’!
Flying two flags
There was also this matter of the flag, outriders (governors’ official escort unit), mansions, and offices: They want the best there in the counties, even if it is private residence.
Then there is this matter of how shall the electorate address their governors?
There were possibilities of such honorifics as ‘His Highness the Governor, the Elected One, and Governess for their spouses. Or would it be ‘Your Right Honourable the Governor? And then still retain Governess for the First Woman of the county?
Or should it be ‘Our Dear Leader the Governor? Or ‘Brother Leader’, as the late Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi so loved to be honoured? Or shall it be the ‘Chosen One of the County’?
After considering these possibilities, the county kings settled on “Your Excellency the Governor!”
Which means their spouses shall also be the ‘First Ladies of the counties’. The honorific ‘Your Excellency’ took effect immediately, but they could not backdate it to their swearing-in two weeks earlier.
When the governors met in Naivasha for official induction to their devolved offices, they hijacked the meeting and gave it a new agenda: ‘Governors fighting for their space in the devolved system of government’.
They captured their expectations in a memo to former President Kibaki, believing no one can fight harder for governors than the 47 governors themselves.
Eight armed bodyguards for one governor, diplomatic passports, and three vehicles each, with special number plates marked county governor (CG), with a crisp National Flag are not too much for the elected ones.
Soon, they shall be flying two flags – one for the county, one national – two for the asking for one. But they forgot to demand His Excellency the Governors’ Special Press Unit, with an Outside Broadcasting van.
Of the three vehicles they want, one would be ceremonial, one utility, and another routine. Do not imagine they had ‘Probox’ or VW in mind even if the models were reloaded.
High-level Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, and customised Range Rover would ensure Your Excellencies the Governors step out in style.
The writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor Quality and Production.
kendo@standardmedia.co.ke
