Why most governors are no longer at ease

Governors Jack Ranguma (Kisumu), Cyprian Awiti (Homa Bay), Okoth Obado (Migori) and Cornell Rasanga (Siaya) are feeling the heat.

In the words of Mr Ranguma, the same people who helped them become governors in 2013 have turned against them and want the seats for themselves in 2017.

The four have a simple message for their rivals: Please wait until 2022 to throw your hat in the ring.

For constituents they say, please vote for us in 2017 so that we may nurture our flagship projects to fruition and lay the foundations for the development of our counties.

New governors will disrupt these foundations.

What is emerging is that most governors are realising that they should have, like Dr Alfred Mutua of Machakos, hit the ground running.

They now know the folly of fighting endlessly with their deputies, senators, MPs and MCAs at the expense of development. For most, 2016 and 2017 will be very short years indeed.

NEXT POWERFUL SEAT
Mr Ranguma, Mr Awiti, Mr Obado and Mr Rasanga are not the only governors feeling the heat from pre-season electioneering.

As I say, after the presidency the next most coveted job in Kenya is the governor’s. As I say again, most senators, MPs, Deputy Governors and political debutants want to be governors.

Therefore, the most fiercely contested battles in the 2017 General Election will be those waged for the control of Kenya’s 47 counties.

Why? Because politics is competition for power and resources and their distribution. In this regard, then, after the presidency, the next most powerful office in the land is that of governor.

Governors control multi-billion-shilling budgets, they appoint Cabinets, their say so guarantees award of contracts and they have AIE (Authority to Incur Expenditure), which has been nicknamed Authority to Initiate Eating.

And, of course, there is the prestige, the perks and the trappings of the office.

Compared to governors, Senators and MPs are just agitators.

PREDECESSOR'S PROJECTS

It is why instead of supporting devolution at every turn — as is their mandate — senators have often ganged up with MPs to fight governors.

It is also why Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) fight governors.

That is why we do not have just 16 or 32 governors.

Anti-devolutionists feared that fewer governors would have more resources and be far too powerful for even those in the national government.

So governors must know their competitors will not wait to fight them in 2022. The race for 2017 is on!

But don’t Mr Rasanga & Co have a point when they say if they are ousted in 2017, the foundations they are trying to put in place will be thrown into jeopardy or out of the window altogether?

And are they not speaking for their 43 colleagues? From where I sit and with the benefit of hindsight, their fears are well founded.

Kenya’s politicians, as this paper showed recently in regard to the Constituency Development Fund, are not famous for completing projects their predecessors initiated.

Will incoming governors complete the projects of those they beat at the polls? If viable, people-based and at advanced stages, they must be completed.

DIVERSIONARY WARS
Governors must, however, bear in mind that they will defend their records and run on them in 2017.

Indeed, challengers will be keen to poke holes in their platforms on account of their records.

The electorate will judge them on these records. And rivals will be keen to show the electorate what governors elsewhere have accomplished.

So governors and rivals must remember that with the power of the office comes the responsibility of governance and accountability to the electorate.

The Constitution gives a governor two terms, but securing a second term is wholly dependent on one’s achievements in the first term.

Mr Ranguma & Co are saying they have just settled into their jobs having used the last two years putting in place the instruments to make devolution work.

Over in Makueni Prof Kivutha Kibwana may argue that he has spent the better part of two years embroiled in diversionary wars waged against him by MCAs.

True, but as governors serve out the remainder of their terms they must have realised that politics is thankless and rivalry ruthless.

So, before 2017 they must identify hanging fruits on trees of development, pick them and serve them to their voters. Such matunda, not tales of their predicaments, will earn them re-election.

Here’s an incentive: A successful governor might be elected President in 2022.