Joho and Sonko lead rise of defiant politics

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko clash in public during the commissioning of “Mwangaza Mtaani street lighting project” by President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Makadara grounds, on January 17, 2016. The two leaders have gone against the grain to win support from across-section of Kenyans. [File, Standard]

In Kenya, a technocratic vision of leadership has hovered over the public imaginary for years. In this vision, educated, middle-class bureaucrats, those trained in a globalised language of economics, science and development, should rule and implement policies that will reduce poverty and inaugurate good governance. This will also cure all tribalism and corruption. With this in mind, one wonders how leaders like Mike Mbuvi Sonko and Ali Hassan Joho have arrived with impeccable agility and sheer force at the national political scene.

Despite the fact that the two, Joho and Sonko, are in separate political camps, one in the ruling party and the other in the opposition, what steered them to prominence has a lot more in common.