Newspapers reported on Monday this week that Nairobi Governor Anne Kananu had been snubbed at the Jamhuri Day celebrations at the magnificent Uhuru Gardens the previous day.
My first reaction was that it was a missed opportunity to not only showcase the progress Nairobi had made in management and development since the crazy days of Governor Mike Sonko, but also to flaunt one of only three sitting woman governors in the country.
In a country grappling with sociocultural, political and legal challenges of gender parity, was there a greater platform to remind young girls and aspiring women leaders that the country's seat of power is managed by a woman and there is no limit to their ambitions and aspirations?
Well, no explanation was given for the apparent snub, so it’s left to pundits to make what they may of it. However, as the electoral season gets hotter by the minute, it is almost taken for granted that Governor Kananu will not be on the ballot to defend the seat in 2022 – or none of the major parties has shown even a remote interest in her beyond her current short term. That may explain the supposed oversight in giving her a speaking slot.
Interestingly though, the list to succeed her isn't as long as you would expect at this stage. Being the most prestigious gubernatorial ticket in the country, you would expect a massive scramble for it eight months before the general election. But no, it isn’t the case now!
In fact, scouring through the newspaper pages, rumour mills and gossip networks, you are likely to come away with only four names mentioned with regard to the seat. These are former Dagoretti South MP Denis Waweru, Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi, businessman and Kenya Chambers of Commerce president Richard Ngatia and businesswoman Agnes Kagure completes the menu for now, or at least those whose desires for the seat are serious enough to appear on the radar.
Standing there among the men, Kagure strikes me as rather brave, especially given how long she has been associated with the post. In the initial days following the impeachment of Sonko, when everyone assumed there would be a by-election to replace the disgraced former holder of the office, her name was early off the blocks as a potential “Handshake candidate”.
Those who hear things even whispered that she had a secretariat ready and was hunting for a running mate as she awaited the IEBC bell. Many factors conspired to put a hold to those plans, but she certainly didn’t bury the ambitions with the temporary disappointment.
Her story is the textbook rags to riches narrative. Kagure says she first came to Nairobi from her Nyeri rural home to work as a housemaid. Invited to be a house help by her mother's friend, the prospective boss failed to appear at the bus station to pick her. She thus proceeded to stay with a relative until she saw an advert for insurance sales agents, which she applied for.
She started off earning commissions from insurance sales, one of the most absorbing jobs for young people then and now. Kagure would grow big enough to own her own insurance agency, the Insurance Consulting Group, in 1999.
In 2005, 10 years after joining the insurance sector, she was made Agency Manager, no mean feat even for the most resilient. Having risen through the ranks in the industry, she was named among the Top 40 under 40 women in Kenya in 2011, and is a recipient of the Peace Ambassador award by the King of Thailand.
Her profile catches the eye easily because she sounds like any one of us, rising from poverty and adversity to the pinnacle of corporate management. Not many watching the political scene would pick her from a crowd of three, because she is also quite self-effacing, which I consider a good thing.
After all the drama at City Hall in the past few years, what Nairobi needs urgently is a manager and leader, not an attention-seeking political rubble rouser donning yellow metallic objects around the neck, running riot across the neglected city. We must love this city enough to want better for it and for its residents.
I have watched Kagure’s media interviews. She is an extremely intelligent and focused person. By shunning loud mouthed politics, she also ticks a crucial box.
Previous suggestions, including in the earlier BBI talks, averred that as the country's capital, Nairobi needed a management style away from the politically packaged election of mostly populists to sit at the helm.
Voters unwittingly aided the Sonkonization of Nairobi into a chaotic metropolis run like a talk shop and boxing ring, by their queer preference for populism over evident abilities.
Democracy is a paradox. It aims to instill popular mandate, but does not address the inherent dangers attendant to rogue popular picks. This is why many of us dreaming of the return of the glory days of the Green City in the Sun pray that the next governor can be a cool-headed corporate manager and not merely a streetwise political operator.
We have experimented with every possible method, including handing over the city’s
management to a military general. But as long as the elections and democracy will prevail, we still have to troop to the polls to try and make everything better at the ballot.
The challenges of the city remain the provision of water, housing, health, environmental issues and energy. The political philosophy around slogans at public rallies must be replaced by conscious efforts to truly uplift the poor and vulnerable residents of the city from the perennial rut caused by poor governance.
The population of the city county continues to shoot up tremendously, stretching all amenities. It’s the last boarding call for real leaders to take up their role in helping dismantle the cartels that choke the capital, and give us back our city.
If Kananu hangs her boots at the end of this electoral cycle, there is definitely another iron lady in waiting to pick up from there.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services has done a brilliant job in difficult circumstances. In a way, it has been an indictment on the civilians who have been charged with running the city since the arrival of devolution.
But in civilian democracy, it is imperative that the devolved power returns to civil authorities at some point. No matter who you are, you must be aware that the success of devolution and the prestige of local management of resources will be judged by how the capital scores on the key indicators.
There will be many people offering themselves, carrying colourful manifestos and superhuman
delivery promises, but I hope we will pick one who has a record we all can see.
Especially one whose struggles and life remind us of our own!
