If there is a county that has been taken through baptism by fire, then it is Kisii County. It is one of those counties where billions of taxpayers’ shillings have been embezzled, most shameful cases of nepotism reported, and lowest levels of development registered. At some point, the governor’s personal assistant was his own father. The Kisii-Kisumu Highway was at one point a reason for week-long protests by residents because a contractor had taken midway due to incomplete payment, and the resultant dust from the unfinished road was finding its way into people’s bedrooms and businesses. At another point, residents of Bochura had to plant bananas in the middle of one of the roads connecting to Daraja Mbili Market to dramatize its sorry state.
And that is how Governor James Ongwae will be remembered -A sleazy, slimy, lazy, and “clanist” governor, who inherited a thriving county and practically ran it down with neither guilt nor shame. He achieved this by getting cover from former Prime Minister and ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga, a complacent team of clueless County Executive Committee Members he had hired using questionable procedures, and a largely decent deputy governor whom he intentionally pushed into the periphery so as to have his way with theft of the people’s money.
At the moment, Kisii County is such a squeezed town that one wonders whether it is the home of one of the most hardworking groups of people the world over or a crowded chicken coop. The town is clean not because of the county government, but because of the extreme discipline the Kisii people have when it comes to matters of cleanliness. Otherwise, it would be worse.
And this is where Professor Sam Ongeri comes in.
As 2022 beckons, Kisii County voters must not gamble with their town and county. Experiments with stupidity are now not tenable, and real and genuine public service must kick in. Professor Ongeri is a tried and tested hand, a man who has demonstrated time and time again that he knows what it means to be a leader and a servant of his people. He ranks at number one when it comes to service to Omogusii. Not even the much-talked-about Simeon Nyachae can rival Ongeri. Nyachae goes down in history as another extremely nepotistic leader who kept government jobs within his family, with the most shameful being when President Uhuru asked for five Kisii individuals to appoint to senior government appointments only for Nyachae to forward family members. A clueless President Uhuru surrounded by stupid intelligence zombies never did background checks, but instead gave the family members the jobs. Sickening!
Ongeri has even suffered for trying to do right by the community. While serving as the Minister of Education, Ongeri made sure that young men and women from Kisii who had cleared from college but had not gotten hired were quickly absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), something that almost got him into trouble. You cannot compare this with Ongwae’s time in the same institution, TSC, when the first question the then secretary would be, “which clan do you come from?” Professor Ongeri helped Omogusii without caring about clan, constituency, or region. He also performed well as a minister of health in Mzee Daniel Moi’s government and has done his best to raise issues pertinent to the wellbeing of the community in the senate.
It is regrettable that he has “wasted” five years in the Senate when he should have served as Kisii County Governor.
In terms of character, Professor Ongeri is arguably among the soberest minds the country has. He approaches issues with calm and is quite meticulous. He does not jump to conclusions, instead seeking to listen to all the involved parties in order to come up with an opinion. His submissions during Senate hearings are legendary for their richness of knowledge and depth of wisdom.
The community is blessed to have Mzee Ongeri.
At a time when Omogusii’s name is soiled by mediocre senior public servants some of whom are being used to harass and bully others, something Kisiis are not known for, we look at Ongeri as our consolation.
He is the community spokesperson, and this is not up for debate. The cartoons, pretenders to the throne, musketeers, and masqueraders must know that playing with the community is punishable.
As a message to Mzee Ongeri, we can’t wait to have you as the Governor of that tattered county of Kisii. We can’t wait to see you move in and start correcting the mess that has been created over the last decade. We would like you to find a way to expand the town. Build new and better roads. Have proper bridges built over the rivers running through the town. Basically, clean up all the childishness that has been institutionalized in Kisii. It is time for adult work in the county.
It is time for us to have a governor who is involved in all the affairs of the county, a governor who can take his time and visit our once excellently performing schools that are now at the tail-end of the charts, and try to not only find out what the problem is, but initiate dialogue meant to generate decisions.
My call to our people in Kisii County is that let us not leave any doubt as to what we want in our voting. Let’s not be held back by our parties or presidential preferences. Be it UDA or ODM, Jubilee or ANC, Wiper, or Independent, pull the lever for Professor Ongeri as the next governor. We need a decent and modern town, and we need it like yesterday. The usual suspects who might be thinking of seeking the seat of Governor should be warned. We will not entertain any nonsense this time round, and if it means we run you out of town, we shall do it. Some of you are well-known thieves who have stolen from your previous workstations. Others have stolen from orphans and others are driven by the fact that they have some change to spare. For those with money to throw around, I dare remind you that there are limits to what your money can do. The message to our people is that they should eat your money, talk to you nicely, and still vote for Professor Ongeri.
If we play around with our votes and elect another mediocre performer, we shall have ourselves to blame. The rest of the country is recording tremendous progress, and we cannot afford to remain behind. Makueni County has budding industries, Kirinyaga County together with Nyeri County have the best roads, all built under the county government programme, and we all know how Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o has transformed Kisumu County.
We cannot afford to remain behind!!!
The County of Kisii is too damaged to be handed over to another joker. We shall be interviewing political jokers as from 2032.
Onchari Oyieyo
For Centre for African Progress (CAP).
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are purely those of the author and CAP cannot be held liable.