Retiring governors will downgrade by seeking to be MPs

Council of Governors (COG) re-elected Chairman Martin Wambora and his deputy James Ongwae flanked by other governors addressing the media as they unveiled the new office although most of them were re-elected.  [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Kenyan politicians have peculiar habits. One emerging headscratcher is the choice of some retiring two-term governors to run for seats in the National Assembly.

Given the constitutional pecking order of institutions, one would expect that if retiring governors were to run for public office it would be to either join the Senate or run for president.

Joining the Senate would make sense as it is the institution charged with protecting devolution and making it work.

Running for president would provide former governors with the opportunity to highlight their credentials as good managers of public resources.

So what should we make of governors that choose to go to the National Assembly?

The answer to this question has implications for broader understanding of political careers in Kenya. One of the oddities of our politics is that we have career politicians without the requisite professionalism.

The jua kali nature of our politics means that more often than not individuals’ political careers make little sense. We do not have strong political parties that allow for promising talent to rise through the ranks.

Instead, many people enter politics once they have made some money and either want to make more through cronyism or to protect what they have.

This logic of politics robs the process of investments in professionalisation and concern for optics. It yields mindless politicking, lacking a clear logic.

Which is to say that a retiring governor who chooses to go the National Assembly is betraying their real intentions of being in politics. It is certainly not for professional careerist goals – which would demand striving to move up the pecking order.   

This is not to say people should be barred from running for certain offices. The point here is that we should have social norms against career politicking without professionalisation.

Retiring governors have a wealth of information that they should put to good use in the private sector, the Senate, or for the few good ones, the presidency.

The writer is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University