Barasa should not let hubris sully his good development record

Kakamega county Governor Fernandes Barasa lights up a Christmas tree at the county headquarters in Kakamega town on December 20, 2024. The County governor also donated foodstuffs to the needy families. [Benjamin Sakwa/ Standard]

Hubris and a sense of entitlement have too often ensnared otherwise good leaders. Hubris is triggered by the acquisition of power and gets worse the longer one stays and accumulates more power. Thus, a pompous statement by Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa last week made him the latest entrant to the club of narcissistic grandees. 

Shortly before he flew to Dubai to celebrate Christmas, Barasa warned county workers to desist from supporting or associating with individuals who have expressed an interest to unseat him in 2027. 

It probably leaves him in a world of hurt that the bullfighter, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, is eyeing the governor's seat. By dint of his statement, Barasa had inadvertently pressed the panic button and acknowledged he was becoming unpopular. Yet rather than interrogate the reasons for his slide, he chose to lash out through unwarranted threats. 

It’s not in doubt that all county workers are administratively answerable to the governor. In anything that is work-related, they must respect and submit to his authority. However, they are not, in all other respects, answerable to the governor or obligated to do his bidding. To imagine otherwise is to succumb to hallucinations that have consigned many to the political graveyard. 

County workers have a constitutional right to make their political choices without coercion. They are not political party appointees or the governor's hirelings to be manipulated at will. Most got their jobs through individual competencies even though we cannot discount the aspect of nepotism, cronyism and rewarding loyalists that is inherent in our politics. 

It was therefore presumptuous of Barasa to order county workers not to support his opponents, unless that support was interfering with their work. Noticing his waning popularity should have awakened the need for self-introspection to ascertain at what point, or where he might have taken a misstep. Nobody is infallible, especially those in leadership who must satisfy the competing interests, demands and requirements of diverse groups without appearing to be unfair to some. 

No law grants Barasa, not even the president, the authority to deny people rights guaranteed by the Constitution, namely, the right and freedoms of choice and association. 

Forced support for an incumbent has never been a categorical imperative for any worker at any level of the two-tier government. Unfortunately, power has a way of going to an individual's head and corrupting their rationalities to a point they begin to act like demigods. 

Barasa's unfortunate directive does not, however, take away his good work that has, and continues to transform Kakamega County, proclaiming to all and sundry the potential of well-directed devolution ideals. 

Barasa has accomplished a lot in key areas that impact the people directly. There is visible work, completed and still in progress, in the upgrading of roads within the 60 wards that make up the county. Roads are critical to economic empowerment by making it easy to move goods from one place to another, improving communication and security through access and mobility of security personnel. They also play an important role in enabling positive health outcomes. 

The creation of three municipalities is ample proof of Kakamega County's resolute march towards, hopefully, joining Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret in the league of cities. Municipalities can not only attract donor funding, they easily fit into the scheme of things of the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Programme in its endeavour to improve the living standards of people. 

Completion of Butere Level 4 Hospital and the Barasa care medical scheme are testament of his commitment to the people's health. Add to that the fertiliser subsidy that has improved food security and there is evidence of a man with a vision. Water provision under 'Amatsi khumuliango' initiative has benefitted at least 7450 households.

Barasa's work and deeds should speak for themselves more loudly than threats that risk depicting him as a leader who lacks social and emotional intelligence. 

Alexander Chagema, sub editor, The Standard.
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