Without doubt, John Gakuo was of good character

Former Nairobi Town Clerk and County Environment Executive Officer John Gakuo during a past interview. He died on October 30, 2018. [File, Standard]

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow”; Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.

Although the words character and reputation are used interchangeably in everyday parlance, there are those who make a distinction between the two. Character, they say, is who one really is, what defines them and is permanent. On the other hand, reputation is what others see one as, and is transient like a shadow, changing with the vicissitudes of one’s lot in life.

John Gakuo was thrust into national limelight almost reluctantly on his part. In 2004, taking on the job of Nairobi Town Clerk, after more than a decade in quiet public service, he approached his work with a single-mindedness that was to define his entire stay at City Hall. He established himself as a no-nonsense performer, turning around the operations of the defunct City Council into an efficient working outfit delivering quality services.

Gakuo oversaw collection of large mounds of garbage festering in most parts of the city and had them disposed of in a scheduled manner. He also ensured the hygiene of city water, previously treated with chalk instead of chlorine by unscrupulous City Hall operatives.

He demonstrated as much by drinking out of public water faucets, features that Kenyans had up to then, only heard of existing in the first world. City and Uhuru parks, previously the bastions of muggers, drug dealers and other never-do-wells, were reclaimed as family recreational spaces under his tenure.

Unprocedural purchase

For the first time in decades, city by-laws were adhered to, leading to order in the Central Business District. Suffice it to say, Gakuo loomed larger than life, making his a hard act to follow. Unlike many public figures, Gakuo did not relish the limelight. He attracted little attention to himself as preferring that his work be seen and appreciated for the value that it brought to Nairobi residents.

This strength of character was probably his Achilles heel, in the sense that his self-effacing manner precluded him from making a more robust defence when accused of failing to prevent the unprocedural purchase of land by City Hall, ostensibly, to establish a cemetery. For this, he, alongside others, was handed a three-year jail-term by a magistrate’s court.

There is broad consensus that Gakuo tamed the city. He achieved what others before and after him were unable to. In fact, he was the exact antithesis of latter day governors who have been big on sound-bites but slow to deliver. Nairobi has not forgotten the inexorable downward slide under Philip Kisia’s administration, nor the floods and potholes that emerged under former Governor Evans Kidero, nor the waffle on promises to city dwellers by Governor Mike Sonko. Sonko made fatuous commitments to convert Uhuru Park into a gigantic bus stop and to lower parking fees within the city to sub one hundred shillings.

Charm offensive

It is unfortunate that many residents of Nairobi, and indeed, of many other counties, have been snowed by promises of transformative leadership through deft marketing by politicians. Many are beholden to occasional tokens handed out and are unwilling or unable to see beyond the charm offensive of present leadership. When it is not some leader decrying the appalling state of Pumwani hospital, it is another ‘rescuing’ national heroines like boxer Conjestina Achieng’, for the umpteenth time and in the full glare of television cameras. Few see this acts for what they really are, showy, pithy statements designed to build reputation and not necessarily displays of good character.

John Gakuo died in prison. He died even as an appeal that may have exonerated him was taking place. Everyone agrees that Gakuo was not a beneficiary of the proceeds of the crime he was accused of. Many feel he was a victim of circumstances. His lawyer argues that the law as it was then, prevented Gakuo from interfering with what was a procurement procedure. Stopping the Mavoko cemetery land purchase was therefore beyond his remit as town clerk.

Instructively at his demise, there have been none of the quotidian platitudes lavished on the morally bankrupt when they pass away. There have been no public displays of grief typical for those whose sources of income are indeterminate, perhaps masking their real character through random acts of ‘kindness’ or largesse.

John Gakuo may have exited the world quietly, but like the trees he planted around the city, his character endures. Until another of impeccable character arises, most of the city’s leaders will have to contend with living in the shadows of this great legend.

Mr Khafafa is the Vice Chairman, Kenya-Turkey Business Council