Murang'a governor-elect Irungu Kang'ata will be sworn in on Thursday to take over a county that pundits say is on its knees.
Outgoing Governor Mwangi wa Iria, who has ruled for 10 years, is accused of running down the once rich county that in the 1970s and 1980s used to lend to the National Treasury using coffee proceeds.
The transition of power is spearheaded by County Secretary Patrick Mukuria and will be held at Ihura Stadium.
"We are good to go and by the close of business on Thursday, Murang'a County will have a new government in office. The new team will have all the powers to function as a legally recognised government," Mr Mukuria said.
Dr Kang'ata takes over the county when salary arrears are running to four months for some casuals and three for permanent staff.
"This is a county that is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) both administratively and politically ... We have tens of stalled projects and programmes and Dr Kang'ata will have his in-tray overflowing immediately he is sworn in," said Kigumo politician Zack Kinuthia.
Mr Kinuthia, who in April resigned as chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Sports to contest the Kigumo parliamentary seat, said "the county is a common feature in the books of anti-corruption files where Mr Wa Iria is in court over Sh542 million sleaze".
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has also written to Mr Wa Iria in connection with suspected financial impropriety worth Sh300 million that he used to found the Murang'a County Creameries (MCC).
While the governor is credited with stabilising the milk prices in the county, where a litre retails at the farm gate for a minimum Sh35, the budget that was supposed to enhance the minimum price to Sh65 by the close of 2020 is the one being investigated by the EACC.
"The MCC plant in Maragua town is not owned by dairy farmers through their cooperatives. The machinery procurement and fitting is shady, while it is not even known what has been the operation gain for the two years it has existed. It has even collapsed," said area Dairy Farmers and Milk Dealers Association chairman Michael Mburu.
Earlier this year, Dr Kang'ata had to take the county government to court so that it could unfreeze dairy farmers’ accounts that had Sh372 million as Mr Wa Iria fought hard to bar them from trooping out to commercial processors who were offering better prices (Sh43) than MCC’s.
Dr Kang'ata will also be expected to ‘democratise’ the county that is said to have been run as a one-man show.
"Wa Iria had taken a dictatorial grip on staff. The executive was him and he was the executive. He made it clear that he was the county spokesman and even interacting with the media was restricted. We were more of a cartel in the public's eye than we were a government," said one of the county executive committee members.
During Mr Wa Iria rule, residents complained about the presence of powerful and brutal goons who executed errands under the arrangement of “Special Programmes”.
The goons became notorious in disrupting anti-Wa Iria rallies, attacking his critics as they blatantly engaged in scaremongering drives against the opposition. Civil servants and suppliers had to bribe them to access the seat of power.
Three journalists in Murang'a have recorded statements with the police alleging that Mr Wa Iria called them on their phones and issued threats to their lives on allegations of negative reporting about his administration.
The office of the deputy governor (DG) was made colourless and irrelevant. During his first term, Mr Wa Iria was at war with his deputy, Mr Gakure Monyo. He ordered the demolition of Mr Monyo's office under the guise of repairing it.
In his second term, he forced DG Maina Kamau to make a public declaration that he will be at war "with your boss during our rule together".
Mr Kamau, a former Kandara MP, said in his speech: "I know how your former deputy has troubled you by his politics ... but I am not like that. You will have a very cooperative and peace-loving deputy during our time in office."
And true to his word, for the five years the two co-piloted the county, Mr Kamau's public presence on behalf of the county and interactions with the media were a bare minimum. He became vibrant when he resigned in April to contest the Kandara seat, a bid that flopped.
Dr Kang'ata comes in with a 29-year-old deputy, Mr Stephen Munania, who is the face of the youth in the county government.
"I am not in doubt that Dr Kang'ata is a democrat who practises centrist politics. He is a good heart who has assured me that I will have a portfolio and will not limit me to get out there and positively interact with our people,” Mr Munania said.
“We are in this as a team and my respect for him leaves no room for mischief … We are in this as a team."
Mr Wa Iria’s pet projects during his reign were MCC, agricultural rejuvenation programmes like free maize seeds and modernisation of coffee bushes, where he helped farmers embrace exotic varieties like Batian and Ruiru 11.
He is also credited with trading freedom, where hawkers were guaranteed an unfettered presence. He is also credited with improving healthcare but hospital staff let him down by stealing medicines and commercialising services that were supposed to be free.
"We spent so much in the health sector. Our ambulance services, minor surgeries and response to pandemics were novel. We built the biggest and famed ICU in 20 days. We had even started evacuating our sick people from neighbouring countries. The Wa Iria administration goes down in history as a pacesetter to be built on," said Health executive Joseph Mbai.
Mr Mbai was Mr Wa Iria’s preferred successor under the Usawa Kwa Wote party, but he finished sixth among the seven contestants – suggesting the governor had not inspired his people to rally behind his candidate.
Mr Wa Iria was to later express a desire to vie for the presidency. He was barred by the law and joined the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition, a formation that was not popular in the Mt Kenya region.
"My administration has performed wonders and the only person who understood how we founded the service delivery charter is Mr Mbai,” Mr Wa Iria said.
“I would not wish to see the classic foundation that we have laid down trashed. We should be guaranteed continuity of the many good things that we have initiated. This county is an inspiration to the other 46."
Dr Kang'ata comes in promising a Ward Development Fund – which is not anchored in law – saying it will bring harmony between the executive, the county Assembly and the people.
"A governor cannot know what exactly ails the villages ... the member of the county assembly (MCA) does. We should empower the MCA to be resourced to serve the grassroots," Dr Kang'ata said.
He also said he will introduce minimum guaranteed prices for agricultural harvests, a promise economists frown upon, saying market forces dictate pricing.
"Prices are set by volumes, market forces, quality ... seasons ... You cannot promise to pay high prices for harvests that are rejects. This debate about minimum guaranteed prices is populist,” said Emmanuel Wangwe, an economist at the National Treasury.
“Governments are supposed to help farmers bring down the cost of production, increase quality productivity and access structured markets that are free from distortions and imperfections ... then reduce tax regimes and profit margins will set themselves."
He also promised to offer Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers permanent and pensionable jobs, empower women in leadership and battle land cartels that have enslaved the county with costly litigation, with others leading to dispossession, especially against widows and poor families.
Dr Kang'ata won the governor's seat with 256,561 votes, followed by Jubilee's Jamleck Kamau, who received 91,164. Others in the race were DP's Joseph Wairagu (42,318 votes), Irungu Nyakera of the Farmers Party (21,150), and Dr Moses Mwangi of the Safina Party (4,370).
Mr Kamau had accused Dr Kang'ata on the campaign trail of being a poor senator who watched as the county was driven downhill to the disadvantage of residents.
In 2013, he was elected Kiharu MP. He had become councillor for Central Ward in Muranga town in 2002 while he was a student at the University of Nairobi, where he was student leader.
Dr Kang'ata will now be in charge of at least Sh6 billion in allocations from the national government and about Sh1 billion in local revenue.
A ground mobiliser with the raw opportunistic instincts, Dr Kang'ata is known to take advantage of current affairs in social and political life to accumulate acceptability bonga points.
For instance, in 2014, Dr Kang'ata wanted Parliament to make Kenya a self-declared opponent of gayism and lesbianism.
Religious leaders, especially, were up in arms against the push from the West for sexuality rights. In 2015, he warned US President Barack Obama against exporting those rights to Kenya.
In 2020, he wrote an open letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta warning him that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) would fail.
While he earned the wrath of the system, which kicked him out of the Senate chief whip position, he became an instant hit in Mt Kenya.
In 2012, Dr Kang'ata was instrumental in kicking out Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza after he presented in court Rebecca Kerubo, who had complained about being assaulted by the Judiciary second in command at a shopping mall.
Honoured as the best Constituency Development Fund administrator during his legislative tenure, Dr Kang'ata hopped from being Dr William Ruto’s supporter to President Kenyatta’s loyalist and back to Dr Ruto as realignments ahead of the August 9 elections formed.
A father of two daughters, Dr Kang'ata attended Muranga Township Primary School, now called Vidhu Ramji Primary School, between 1986 and 1993. He went to Thika High School between 1994 and 1997. He joined the University of Nairobi’s Parklands campus in 1999 and was elected vice-chair of the Kenya Law Student Society while still a freshman. He was later the same year elected vice-chairman of the students’ union at the university.
He was suspended from university for fighting discrimination against regular joint admissions board students who could not undertake certain courses that were reserved for parallel so-called Module 2 students.
There are fears that Dr Kang'ata will not be subjected to effective oversight by Senator-elect Joe Nyútú.
"[They] are friends and members of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). They are joined by all MPs in the county who belong to the UDA and a similar county assembly ... It should be preached that for oversight to work, voters should be electing different parties into parliaments" said ODM Senate aspirant Pius Kinuthia, who came in last.
But Mr Nyútú said "separation of power does not give room to compromised oversight and I will dispense my duties to the letter, by applying what the law dictates and in realisation that our jobs are distinct".
