Opinion: Extravagant lifestyles of our leaders insensitive

Governor Alfred Mutua with his wife Lilian Ng'ang'a at a past event photo:courtesy

The number of bodyguards reportedly assigned to the Machakos governor's wife, Lilian Ng'ang'a, as reported in news that four of them had died in a road accident, demonstrates the pampered life our elected leaders live at the expense of the taxpayer.

Although we condole with Alfred Mutua over the tragedy, the ostentatious lives that public officers lead portray them as insensitive and out of touch with reality, as we noted in our leader yesterday. A report by police headquarters last year showed that 11,000 police officers provide security for VIPs.

It is hard to imagine how many bodyguards protect the governor if four are assigned to his wife. And it is probable that that number excludes those assigned to their home(s). Just how much danger is one exposed to as a leader that they should be protected so?

It is also necessary to ask; does the law allow governors to assign bodyguards to their wives unless, of course, they foot the bills from their own pockets? Crime in urban areas has been on the rise; the reason being a shortage of police officers when, in reality, there are officers who are not gainfully deployed.

There is need for clear guidelines on who merits a security detail and the number of officers that detail should have. Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaiserry must deliver on his pledge, made shortly after he withdrew Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho's security detail last year, to reduce the number of officers guarding VIPs in line with the provisions of the law.