Non-performing leaders should bow in shame

A man ashamed. [Gettyimages]

To paraphrase George Orwell in his classic Animal Farm, all animals might have been born equal, but in Kenya, some are more equal than others.

In our version of Animal Farm, I have in mind the county/devolution system which has resulted in inequities, mostly in the level of graft perpetrated at the county level. 

Like I have said before, we devolved graft from central government to the ‘ground’. It is a free-for-all for those animals lucky enough to take a dip with their dirty little paws in the jam jar - for that is the county treasury.

I was walking around my village in Rongai, Nakuru County and I wondered what the Governor and her bunch of merry crooks are doing to make life easier for those in this god-forsaken place.

The village - and I believe there are numerous examples of such - appears to be stuck in a time warp. Nothing seems to have changed since devolution kicked in. In any event, the hamlet has moved a couple of steps backward.

The roads are no better than cattle tracks of the middle ages. School children walk with empty jerrycans hunting for water, mostly from the eponymous river that cascades from Molo.

Donkeys trot along uncomplaining in the January sun, ferrying a few jerrycans of water. It is a crying shame that in this day and age, majority of Kenyans do not have running water.

The Romans had running water in their homes a thousand years back. For us, even with the advent of the so-called civilisation, we are still ferrying water from dirty rivers. In buckets and jerrycans.

Yet, it is not for lack of money. No. The county government appears interested only in grandiose projects, building offices and the Governor’s mansion while the people wallow in abject poverty. 

Whenever I think of some of these governors, I am reminded of Marie Antoinette who had lost touch with reality that when she asked why the mobs were protesting that there was no bread, she wondered why they couldn’t indulge in cake.

Of course, eventually Marie Antoinette was guillotined after a short trial.

Sometimes, I wish we would go back to the middle ages and subject our version of Marie Antoinette to such punishment.

By the way, from the way devolution funds are distributed, one gets the feeling that it is outrightly discriminatory against counties small in size - take Kiambu and compare it with Turkana or Wajir - both area wise and population wise.

The expectation has always been that these funds would be used appropriately to improve the well being of people.

How come that even in this skewed way of sharing the cake, some governors seem to do better than others? 

What is it that they have that others don’t have? Perhaps they are pre-disposed towards development rather than stealing from the very people they are supposed to serve?

Leaders are supposed to lead from the front, show the way and like Caesars’s wife, be above reproach. What is Ndindi Nyoro for instance (MP for Kiharu) doing right that he is able to do some impressive things for the schools in his constituency? 

What is Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o doing right that he has transformed a sleepy town into a model city? 

And, pray, where does Dr Irungu Kang’ata get the money to roll out his state-of-the-art healthcare system and farmer support programmes in Murang’a?

Perhaps it is time governors and MPs paid a visit to the performing counties and constituencies and learn a thing or two instead of taking fanciful flights to Israel for benchmarking, whatever that means.

The above are just three examples of good leadership that I am aware of - there could be many others - but the thing is: the poorest performers (I have in mind my MP and governor) should bow their heads in shame and proceed to a monastery to pray for their souls.

-The wrier is a communications consultant