This man John Nyagarama

The hand of death has yet again claimed the life of an elected leader in the country with Nyamira county being the latest casualty.

Governor John Obiero Nyagarama who has been ailing for quite some time breathed his last breath at Nairobi Hospital where he has been undergoing treatment.

The governor elected on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket becomes the third governor to die during this tenure after Nyeri’s Patrick Wahome Gakuru who died in a road accident in November 2017 and Bomet county’s Joyce Laboso in July 2019.

Born in Nyakemincha village 74 years ago, Nyagarama who won the hearts of the people due to his long service at the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) where he grew through the ranks from being management trainee to a director was elected into office in 2013 when he won the gubernatorial race.

Little known in the political area, the University of Nairobi graduate tried his luck in politics for the first time in the 2007 general election but lost his quest to serve West Mugirango constituency to former MP James Gesami.

Starting his career as a trained teacher in 1975, the governor who quit the profession in 1981 to venture into farming, decided to try his hand in tea, a cash crop that saw him join KTDA.

The governor, who has been in and out of hospital, was in 2018 flown to a US hospital for specialized treatment, a situation that led to the delay in the burial of his son, George Ndemo.

In one of the last events in which the governor’s speech was read on his behalf was at the Borabu Law Courts where Chief Justice David Maraga officiated the opening.

“We are also familiar with the journey that lies ahead of the new Borabu Law Courts and the Judiciary. 

I hope that this Court will not just bring service closer to our people but that it will also act as a shield for justice that as the Bible says in the book of Psalms 82 verse 3, it will give justice to the weak and fatherless and maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute,” read part of the speech read by his Public Administration Executive Benard Osumo.

He also attended the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) signature collection launch presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi last month.

And in what some residents termed as a premonition to his departure from the world, Nyagarama who addressed the County Assembly in July, threw an olive branch to the Members of County Assembly who have been at loggerheads with his leadership since 2017 when he was re-elected into office, by promising a good working relationship with them.

Nyagarama did his Certificate of Primary Education at Nyakemincha Primary School where he qualified to join a national school and proceeded to Maseno School for his O levels. He later on did his A levels at Kisii High School, a school where he got grades to join UoN for his Bachelors of Education degree in Literature.

Following his death Deputy Governor Amos Nyaribo, who has been running the show in his absence, is to take over office as the county boss.

Article 182(2) provides that if a vacancy occurs in the office of the county governor, the deputy county governor shall assume office as county governor for the remainder of the term of the governor.