Residents, MCAs question Governor Kimemia's leadership

Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia addresses the media during the launch of Irish Potato Value Chain programme at Ol Kalou stadium on March 14, 2018. PHOTO | WAIKWA MAINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kimemia's nocturnal meetings did not go down well with locals, some of whom turned to social media to voice their disapproval.
  • The emerging leadership cracks and supremacy battles similar to those in the former regime are likely to affect Mr Kimemia’s agenda. 

After several weeks missing in action, Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia is back.

As if to respond to a section of Nyandarua residents who have sustained a social media campaign questioning his continued absence from the county, Mr Kimemia recently told a county forum:

“They take me for a fool and a coward, but I will not dance to intimidation or blackmail.”

He went on: “They can sing and dance on the streets, invite the media to make all sorts of allegations, but I am a godly man offering godly leadership. I was born weighing nine kilos and the record stands to date.”

He does not spare a section of MCAs critical of his leadership.

“Allow my executive members to perform their duties without unwarranted interference, and let’s judge them by their performance.”

PRODUCTIVITY
Mr Kimemia made himself scarce after ascending to office on August 21 last year, many a time reporting to his office late in the evening to work long hours into the night.

Staff in the governor’s office, previously used to strict official working hours, had a hard time adjusting to the nocturnal mode.

The same applied for newly appointed executive committee members some of whom had come from private businesses and others hired from the civil service and leading companies.

Most cabinet meetings were held late into the night.

As if to prepare his staff psychologically for his new way of conducting business, Mr Kimemia warned:

“We must be results-oriented. I don’t expect any member of my staff to walk home leaving behind an unattended client or some urgent paperwork. We must dedicate all our efforts to service delivery.”

DEVELOPMENT

But his nocturnal meetings did not go down well with locals, some of whom turned to social media to voice their disapproval.

Mr Kimemia now says he has spent the better part of his days in the office setting systems and structures and seeking support from development partners.

“There were no structures or systems when we took over. We are now getting more development funds from donors than our annual budget,” he explained.

Mr Kimemia has spent recent days holding meetings with his executive committee members, common interest groups like contractors and religious leaders to discuss the implementation of the county development agenda.

But emerging leadership cracks and supremacy battles similar to those in the former regime are likely to affect Mr Kimemia’s agenda. 

Since his “return to action”, most elected leaders have shunned his functions.

RUTO FUNDRAISER
During a dialogue forum he recently hosted, Mr Kimemia said there are forces working hard to pull him down.

“The previous regime failed to deliver because someone else apart from the governor was controlling the county government by remote control,” Mr Kimemia claimed without saying who that was.

“Governor Daniel Waithaka tried his best and I ask you to pray for him,” he said of his predecessor and added that the same forces “were trying the same tactics with me but they won’t succeed”.

He claimed that a plot was hatched to ensure residents do not attend a Catholic church fundraiser officiated by the Deputy President William Ruto at Tabor Hill last weekend.

He revisited the controversial cemetery project for the rich, saying those criticising it “are the same persons who signed the agreement to sell public land at Magumu for construction of a beautiful cemetery for the most beautiful persons”, he said.

MILK PROGRAMME
As if to assert his authority, Mr Kimemia has been very visible in recent weeks, interacting with locals and launching projects across the county.

He started by launching the free nursery schools milk programme in Ndaragua constituency, followed by a host of other activities that included the flagging off of medical commodities worth Sh30 million at Ol Kalou town.

“He is moving around launching projects but they don’t have any impact on the common mwananchi,” Dr Kiarie Badilisha, who ran against Mr Kimemia in the last election, said.

Those who know Mr Kimemia from his days as the Secretary to the Cabinet in the grand coalition government, and later in the Jubilee administration are not entirely surprised about his ways.

STRATEGY
According to former President Mwai Kibaki’s security adviser Esau Kioni, Mr Kimemia is a very discreet man, known for disappearing whenever there was a crisis in government, only to emerge later with solutions.

The man, according to Kioni, would widely consult, draw strategies and resurface to convene crisis meetings any time of the day or night.

“What Nyandarua people are experiencing is not new to anyone who has worked with Kimemia,” he said.

Mr Kimemia, Mr Kioni said, used the art of disappearance to great effect during his campaigns for the governor’s seat, using only a fraction of the time his opponents spent campaigning.

Only time will tell, however, if Mr Kimemia’s disappearance and re-appearance act will work for him in county politics as it did at the helm of the civil service.