Unflappable and focused, Farouk Kibet is the new enigma in town

President William Ruto's aide Farouk Kibet addresses participants during women empowerment programme at Scott Christian University in Machakos town on June 6, 2025. [John Muia, Standard]

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei was still smarting from the embarrassment of being publicly denigrated as 'an average' student when Nairobi Senator Edward Sifuna, head- butted him over the 'constitutionality' of a certain office. 

Cherargei appears deuced, though. Any time he ventures an opinion on issues impacting Kenyans, he runs into a barrage of criticism from the public and fellow leaders.

When he recently urged Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to resign over incidents of increased insecurity, he had not bargained on the CS publicly humiliating him as 'average', hence, lacking authority to question anyone's competence. 

When he proposed the extension of the presidential term limit last year, netizens descended on him and had such choice epithets for him, he backed off. 

The Senate spat between Sifuna and Cherargei was brought about by the latter's call on Sifuna to respect the office of the Personal Assistant to the President. The Senate was discussing failure by Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka to appear before the Senate’s Accounts Committee when Sifuna brought up the name of Farouk Kibet, President William Ruto’s personal assistant. According to Sifuna, Lusaka disobeyed the Senate’s summons because Farouk was in Bungoma.

Cherargei objected and asked Sifuna to accord Farouk some respect, but Sifuna ducked behind legalities to stay his course. His remarks, however, were unfair and amounted to abuse of privilege, considering that Farouk was not the subject of discussion and could not defend himself on the floor of the House for the same reason that Sifuna advanced for refusing to acknowledge Farouk’s office.

Over time, what passes for discourse among Kenyan leaders has not been so much about issues, but more often about who is better educated and smarter. Yet, while it is okay to brag about one's education, emphasis should be on how that education or position of authority impacts ordinary citizens. If you are educated, powerful, aloof and unreachable, your education is a liability. 

Those who have been tracking Farouk's engagements over time will have noticed how unobtrusive he is. He does not only look after the President's interests, he is one of the biggest mobilisers of the Kenya Kwanza government, and does so without fanfare or stepping on anybody's toes. He has limited his activities to the grassroots level, not at the national level, and appears to be doing a better job of empowering communities and groups than most elected leaders can ever hope to.

One cannot help but admire his style. He is reserved and hardly responds to barbs, not even when his education has been questioned by people who believe university education makes for better leadership when empirical evidence in the political, leadership and business realms points elsewhere.

Winston Churchill, Jacob Zuma, David Lloyd George, Ramsay MacDonald, Richard Branson and Bill Gates, among others, are household names in leadership, business and the tech world. They are not university degree holders, but that did not stop them from excelling and impacting the world in their own subtle ways. 

Then there was Robert Mugabe with his seven university degrees. Rather than uplift Zimbabwe's outlook after the loathed colonialists left, he drove it down the cliff and wrecked it. It's still trying to find its bearing. A look at Kenya's worst performing companies vis-a-vis the brains that drive them easily disabuses one of the notion that university degrees are the magic wand. Far from it.

Leadership is more wisdom-based than education oriented. That must be Farouk's advantage. He is the new enigma, which gives him the facade of a mysterious man, which only intensifies intrigues around him to confuse friend and foe, none of whom dares cross his path.

Yet watching him go about his business presents one with the picture of an affable man, firm, but approachable and practical. He has proven this through numerous interactions with the people of western Kenya and of course, other parts of the country he has visited. By virtue of being the President's PA, he enjoys special privileges that do not necessarily require constitutional protection or endorsement to be enjoyed.