I pity Kenyan governors. Well, I am not a fan of self-help and motivational books, unless they have a great story line that is presented properly. But the few times I have sat down to read them, I always got this feeling of never giving up in life, all that business about picking yourself up and forging on, you know.
Antagonised
Going through the daily papers, you notice county governments are very chaotic. A governor is always, either being antagonised by his MCAs or being pressured by locals to do this or that. Who is superior to whom in this or that hierarchy, who should get what, threats of impeaching this or that governor all over the place.
Talking of which, it must be a trying time to be a governor without the county assembly solidly behind you. Tyranny of numbers is after all a very real threat. Just ask Embu Governor Martin Wambora. Reports from other parts of the country indicate a few of his colleagues are also in the firing line, MCAs to their respective counties are baying for their blood.
I wonder whether the impeachment circus would be put to rest if wily governors invited their respective MCAs for tea, and all that appertains to “a quiet word” sessions where tea is served in copious amounts. But again, drinking tea does not really bind you to anything, neither does it indicate friendship, at least not the way buying a chap a pint of the local brew does.
You are doubting? Just ask journalists, who after a hell-raising Press conference, are always quietly invited to for tea.
Being a governor must really be a pain in the wrong place; the National Assembly does not want them to fly the national flag or getting any fancy title. MPs want them to be simply referred to as “governor so and so”, and placed almost at the bottom of the pecking order, when attending national events.
Relegated Not that they lose anything, just something called protocol. This means that inviting the local MP to an event the governor is holding might just relegate the governor to a lowly position at the back of the VIP tent. Other than having the liberty to boost their egos by, for instance, using the term “my government” generously, what else is there for a governor to be proud of? Why haven’t we seen any governor, even the embattled Wambora, resigning? There must be something in this whole governorship job, any wild guess out there?