Narrow ethnic issues have no place in Nairobi governor race

By Mwenda Njoka

There is one position that is going to be extremely critical and overly central to Kenyan politics after the General Election besides the coveted presidency – that is the position of governor of Nairobi County.

Although after the elections the country will have some 47 governors spread across the land, there will be ‘governors’ and ‘Governors’, so to speak. It is unlikely that the governor of some nondescript county in, let’s say, North Eastern Kenya or any other far-flung part of the country, will have the same level of political clout as the governor of the Capital City.

The governor of the Capital City has the potential to be third most powerful political player after the president and the vice-president. It is a position that will place the holder in constant limelight and – depending on the person’s performance – it will considerably enhance his or her political standing to a point of being viewed as a possible candidate in the next presidential race.

In other words, whoever becomes the governor of the Capital City will also turn out to be an essential cog in the political machinery known as presidential succession matrix.

As such, it is not surprising that the position of Nairobi governor has attracted heavyweights who are already throwing significant amounts of mud at each other.

In the last couple of months there has been a vicious whispering campaign directed at Evans Kidero, one of the leaders considered a frontrunner in the race for Nairobi governorship. There has been talk that Kidero, an accomplished businessman and corporate guru joined the Nairobi gubernatorial race with a motive to position himself strategically for Raila Succession.

Of course, this is being used by Kidero’s detractors to draw a wedge between him and Raila Odinga with a view to blocking the former Mumias Sugar Company managing director from getting ODM nomination to run for the city governorship.

Granted, only dead people are without ambitions for higher and greater things. There is absolutely nothing wrong even if Kidero were angling for Raila Succession, but the truth of the matter is that the Raila Succession talk is political mudslinging aimed at undermining Kidero and possibly deny the city a leader with the potential to restore Nairobi to its former glory.

Moreover, Raila Succession talk is completely premature because you can’t start succession planning for a king who is yet to be enthroned.

There have also been whispers that Raila should not support Kidero’s bid for governorship ostensibly on the grounds that since the two leaders come from the same Luo community, it will not augur well politically if the two were to be elected.

But who says the country can’t have a Luo president and a Luo city governor? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the country having a Luo President and a Luo City Governor because the president and the governor should each be elected based on their credentials, not parochial matters of ethnic considerations.

And talking about credentials, there is no denying that in all the companies he has managed, Kidero gave a very good account of himself by turning around the fortunes of these companies to become blue chip mega-profit makers.

The position of a governor is a real job. It is a hands-on job that requires a serious manager, and truth be told, few politicians can qualify to be called serious managers.

Nairobi is today still a pale shadow of the former Green City in Sun. It is a city reeling under the weight of corruption and mismanagement. It is a city that requires a serious turn-around expert, someone with proven performance record, not a political heckler.

These are the kind of credentials Kenyans should be looking for in the person who should be the governor of the Capital City, not focusing on insular ethnic issues, which will take the Capital City – as well as the country – absolutely nowhere.

The writer is Managing Editor of The Standard On Sunday