What Governs You?

Why is it so rare to find a leader, especially in the public sector who’s not consumed with the trappings of power? Maybe a partial answer comes from a book that helped me greatly while leading the Kenya Golf Union back in 2018. This national body was mandated to run all the golf affairs in the country and to some extent the East African region. The book Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender suggests that the best leaders are the ones who don’t want the leadership in the first place.

I was that leader. I found myself in that position through what I felt were external forces. It was like someone with an agenda for me was manipulating circumstances and I was playing along like a marionette puppet. I’ve heard politicians accusing each other of being someone else’s puppet. I chose to believe I was Sir God’s puppet hehe.  I had (and still have) the desire for public service. I find it a great opportunity to impact many lives positively. Those who have it should take it as a divine assignment and appointment from above. I believe I did my best once I found myself there. It was an awesome experience and I had fun spreading the gospel of golf across the country.

Today I want to pay tribute to a politician I’ve admired for some time now. His transition recently caught my attention and that has made me dig up a little about him. Prof Kivutha Kibwana is the immediate former governor of Makueni County. I have never interacted with him in person but he won my admiration recently when he announced that he has gone back to teaching in class. Maybe it was more special because he chose to pour his wisdom and experience into my alma mater, Daystar University.

Prof is now 70 years so we could say he is still in midlife if we go by a recent study that defines midlife as ages 35 to 75 years. I remember Prof from way back when former president Moi’s administration would teargas him and other human rights activists for advocating for multi-partyism. He went on to join President Kibaki’s government and served in various portfolios. At the onset of devolution, he was elected the first governor of Makueni County where he served for two terms even after surviving an impeachment attempt by members of his county assembly. kweli politics is not for the faint-hearted.

After the two terms of being governor, he attempted to run for the senate of Makueni and didn’t make it. That’s when he decided not to seek an elective position again. I didn’t hear much of him until recently when he was hired to lecture at Daystar University. That is a class I’d love to attend. It’s like drinking from the source hehe. His post on 26^th September (my son’s birthday) on his Facebook account read, “I thank God for the opportunity to return to academia after a hiatus, now serving at the Daystar University Law school as a professor, after a previous 25-year tenure at University of Nairobi. Another new beginning. I eagerly anticipate engaging in the Master of Laws programme starting January 2025.” I particularly liked the last line of his post, “Where the youth are, I pray I always will be there.”

Successful transitions require a mind, attitude and outlook that is always young and futuristic. I could feel Prof’s excitement as he prepared for January to start interacting with his students. Seems to me that he is eager to learn from them as much as he is to share his knowledge and experiences with them. He is re-firing not retiring and that’s how we should approach life as we get older. We shall retire when Sir God calls us home.

I hardly praise politicians on these pages but prof Kivutha has won my admiration for how he has transitioned back to doing what he loves, teaching with the same eagerness as being a mkubwa (boss). He has lived passionately through advocating for human rights, political leadership and academia. Despite his impeachment attempt as Makueni governor, he won national accolades. According to media reports in 2018, the professor was depicted as the best-performing governor in Kenya. This was linked to Makueni County’s implementation of universal health care and its support of agro-processing for the economic empowerment of farmers.

When we do good it’s clear for all to see. Is the impact of his leadership still being felt in Makueni? I believe it is. A good leader’s actions should outlive him. The seeds we plant should continue growing on other people’s trees and that’s what I see here. Seems to me that leading well and having an impact is not rocket science. If we just have a level of long focus and keep consistent in what we commit to then success is bound to show up. May we also not lose heart when we encounter resistance or opposition for that could be the confirmation that we are making progress. Let’s just accept that whenever we choose to put our hands up to serve we automatically become a target for both praise (not sure how genuine) and criticism. It comes with the territory.

I honour you prof for showcasing a good African transition story. I hope the young minds you will interact with from January will learn that life is indeed in the transitions. May they see through your journey that how we handle transitions is a skill we must learn well and deploy if we are to live significantly.

He even offered to be a pro bono president after seeing he couldn’t afford the cash to run a presidential campaign. Now who does that? That may be laughable but, in my eyes, it showed the desire to serve above self-interest. Folks, would you be voted the best governor of your life?