AS the CEO of the Chogoria Hospital, Samuel Ragwa became exposed to the darker side of poverty levels that ravaged his community in Tharaka Nithi.
This exposure pricked his conscience, and with it his political journey started.
“I saw this as an opportunity for me to help the people and thought I could come back in a different way to offer assistance,” says the Tharaka Nithi Governor.
“My main worry was what I experienced when growing up: We did not have water, the roads were impassable, hospitals were far away and my main intention was to show the people that we can make it.”
He soon adopted his agenda of leadership. The plight of his people made him return to school to study how to manage community projects.
Apart from school, he sidled up to former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth, his political mentor. The idea was to go through his mentor’s development manual to learn just how to do it.
Ragwa has been successful. Among the milestones the county has achieved on his watch is upgrading the health sector from 37 dispensaries to the current 59, there were 214 nurses and now there are 576, with each dispensary having at least a couple of nurses.
“No more women die while giving birth at home,” he explains with a sense of pride.
“All schools have an ECDE class. There are theatres in the Magutuni and Marimanti hospitals and the work environment is mobile. There were 14 doctors and now there are 76.”
The Governor says his administration is giving out pipes almost every day and in the next two years there will be piped water in all areas of the county.
“We have succeeded in uniting the three sub-tribes of Maara, Chuka and Tharaka and, unlike before, they speak in one voice.”
A dedicated player of pool, Ragwa regrets there is no unity among other leaders such as MPs and the senator. “They have never agreed on the projects which we need to be implemented; most of them operate alone, making the county lose out on big projects.”
The Governor is full of praise for Meru Governor Peter Munya for having the confidence to declare his desire to seek the Presidency in 2022.
“If he vies he can count on my vote. He has aspirations that should not be curtailed, he is known as the chairman of the CoG and all he needs is to sell himself to other parts of the country.” he says.
1962: Born in Tharaka, in the then Meru district
1968: Giampapo Primary School, did his CPE in 1975
1976: Ikuu Boys’ High School, O-levels class of 1980
1981: Kirimara High School, A-level 1982
1984: University of Nairobi, graduated in 1987 with a BA degree in Economics and Sociology. Soon after got a job in the Ministry of Health as Personnel Officer II
Resigned to take work as hospital administrator and posted to Maralal and then Nyeri, 1997-2000
2000: Meru General Hospital, Administrator until 2005
2006: Coast General Hospital, Administrator, until 2008
2010: Chogoria Hospital, CEO until 2012
2013: Elected Governor Tharaka Nithi county
2015: “I have been facing opposition from some political leaders in this region and they have been trying to undermine and fail my government. How come this machine was stolen just a day after it was installed in the newly constructed maternity theatre and other equipment is intact?”
2015: “Media outlets claimed that I was accused of having banked Sh111 million meant for county healthcare in my personal account. In actual fact, the money was said to have been banked in the Health executive’s account, not in my account. Such misrepresentation of facts led to very agonizing social media attacks on my personal character, where very absurd comments were trending against me and the people I serve.”
“Well, you see, when you get yourself in a verbal mob- lynching scenario, just keep your cool, let the mobs do all the talking and those witnessing the cast make their own judgments. There is a calculated scheme by rivals to demean me in the succession politics of the county. Senator Kithure Kindiki, in his search for political supremacy in Meru politics, had everything to do with the way I was attacked by the panel”.