KANYADUDI: Dalmas Otieno: Beacon of transformative leadership

On Thursday, the world congregated at Kangeso village in Migori county to bid farewell to a man who is rightly regarded to have lived ahead of his time.

Dalmas Otieno Anyango was always first among his peers but exhibited rare humility. He belongs to the second generation early academic trailblazers after the Maseno and Alliance schools’ cohorts. He has left indelible mark in every private and public leadership responsibility he was ever associated with.

His leadership style has been a yardstick for successful political and business enterprises. Many claim to have learnt the ropes of public service at his feet. Many landmark development projects in the country and especially in Migori are associated with him. They are due to his personal initiative and leadership coordination. These projects have had profound impacts on the communities and spurred economic ripple effects.

Dalmas has been a source of inspiration to many of his peers and dozens of upcoming leaders. At the same time his demeanour of forthrightness inadvertently drew envy and resistance from his competitors. He never suffered fools gladly. His generosity and philanthropy has over time established a strong network of loyal students and practitioners of his ideology and pragmatism. His footprints are normally pointed to as beacons of transformative leadership.

Intelligent to a fault, he was the pioneer class of St Joseph’s School, Rapogi. He was blessed with a unique physique that blended well with his talents, knowledge and special skills. These special traits enabled him navigate his leadership roles and career with relative ease. He was top of his class in the O-Levels and later proceeded to the elite catholic Strathmore School for his A-Levels. At the Makerere University, Dalmas served as finance minister as the student guild. He was studying economics. Together with Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o who was serving as the president, they were two Kenyans at the helm of a continental student union of 10 executives.

After his undergraduate studies, his interests in insurance saw him being a fellow at the Institute of Insurance, London. Dalmas will be remembered for his business innovation, independent thinking and bravery. He is considered one of the country’s independent thinkers and investors. For instance, he is credited as one of the pioneer investors in the banking sector after he founded Thabiti Finance and Thabiti Insurance Company in the 1980s. He first formed the Thabiti Insurance Company in 1978 and later founded Thabiti Finance in 1983 with headquarters in Nairobi, and branches in Kisumu and Eldoret. Pundits agree that he was a shrewd investor and had a deep knowledge of the money market.

Thabiti Finance became active in 1983. Dalmas had previously worked for ALICO insurance company and rose to become its executive director in Kenya at the tender age of 29. He also served as chairman of Kenya Commercial Bank. Because of his vast experience and deep knowledge, the company had in its ranks some of the global best brains that employers craved for.  In 1988, he joined national politics in 1988 under controversial circumstances and left the management of the bank under the management of a white expatriate. The bank collapsed in the early 1990s, when the government came up with a policy that government money could only be deposited and saved in government-run banks.

Dalmas’s political career can be said to be a product of both single party and multiparty systems in Kenya. His entry and progression in murky waters of the country’s political landscape is intertwined with the ebbs and flows of Kenya and Migori’s shifting political tides. The ruling and only party then, Kanu had introduced the infamous “mlolongo” que voting system for nomination of candidates for election as councillor or MP. It made provision that if a candidate garnered 70 per cent of the votes at the nomination stage then he/she was declared elected unopposed. There have been claims that he reportedly rigged this stage and romped in as Rongo MP on a Kanu beating his cousin, Linus Aluoch Polo alias Polo Piach. Despite this turbulent beginning, he quickly perched himself at the top ranks, earning a cabinet position under President Daniel arap Moi. His technocratic competence and calm demeanor earned him the moniker,” Wacho gi gitimo” loosely translated as keeping the promise.

He had replaced the maverick and populist Oluoch Kanindo who was persuaded to take up the post of chairman of Sony Sugar board. Rongo constituency had just been hived off the larger Homa Bay constituency and home to then powerful PS for internal Security Hezekiah Oyugi. Aluoch Polo would later succeed him in the ensuing multiparty election of 1992. Dalmas however, was nominated by Kanu and retained in the Cabinet as Minister for Transport and Communication. In this capacity he remained the most prominent political leader in Luo Nyanza other than the doyen of opposition, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. In south Nyanza, he was now unrivalled since the colossus Oyugi had passed on under mysterious circumstances while undergoing treatment in London.

Dalmas will be remembered as a visionary leader with a focus on initiating impactful projects that transformed the lives of his constituents. In each and every of his terms, there is a landmark project of monumental proportions. He sought to improve the livelihoods of the people he represented by introducing activities that had economic value. He eschewed dependency and made every effort to address the cyclic poverty that bedevliled Nyanza people. In his development philosophy, he identified and prioritised education as the cornerstone of human civilisation. That is the reason why most of his development initiatives revolved around education.

He understood that education emancipated human beings and broke down the chains of blind faith and manipulation. He had earlier in his professional career established Thabiti to assist a majority of low-income earners get access to financial services. These services were a preserve of the top echelons of the economic pyramid as the financial institutions were structurally prohibitive. Many government and public service employees could not easily access banking services, especially credit facilities. This also applied to small and micro enterprise traders.

Upon election as the first Rongo MP, he embarked on a mission to empower the local communities. He thus established the Rongo women group alongside the Rongo dairy cooperative society. These were firsts in then then district of South Nyanza which comprised the current Homa Bay and Migori counties. The members of the women group were assisted to acquire top quality grade dairy cows at affordable prices through the cooperative society. The dairy cooperative society would then buy the milk from the farmers on behalf of KCC. The women farmers were thus assured of payment for the deliveries made thereby improving their incomes tenfold. At the same, the Moi Institute of Technology (MIT) at Kitere received major boost in equipment and status. The institute was his brainchild with the assistance of Oyugi who was then PS. During his second stint in Parliament albeit as nominated but minister, he lobbied for the establishment a branch of KCB at Rongo. This was to ease access to the financial services to the people who were benefiting from the economic boom of the businesses spurred by the farming activities. During the 2007 general election, he switched camps and joined Raila’s ODM. This was easier because Kanu had worked hand in hand with LDP against the government’s proposed constitution.

The government under the leadership of President Mwai Kibaki lost the 2005 referendum. In a strikingly baffling move, Uhuru Kenyatta bowed to ethnic considerations and withdrew his presidential candidature in favour of Kibaki’s reelection in 2007. Many of Kanu members including Dalmas and now President William Ruto chose to break ranks and remained to form the ODM party. It should be noted that Dalmas burnt the midnight oil to develop the party’s many policy position papers. These culminated in the celebrated manifesto that Raila unveiled at the KICC during the launch of his presidential campaigns. The unfortunate events of the disputed presidential election results led to the formation of the Grand Coalition government in which he served as minister.

During this last phase his representative leadership, he ensured that MIT was elevated to a university college. The institution later became a fully-fledged university and chartered as Rongo University. At the same time he championed and dedicated funds for the establishment of Siala Technical Training Institute in Rongo town. These two institutions have had profound economic impact in the development of the town and its environs. The Kenya Women Finance Trust and Cooperative Bank were two additional financial institutions that came calling as well. Because of education and economic advancement, Rongo constituency is considered to have the lowest unemployment rate in the region. The ordinary people enjoy life of bliss and dignity. Dalmas was and remains a transformative. His legacy belongs to posterity.