Lagat: Senators are out of touch with reality

Rolling down the lush green Nandi hills on a cold morning is more than refreshing. The scene is breathtaking. Do residents appreciate the beauty of the well-trimmed tea bushes, the rolling hills and the great weather, you wonder.

At a few minutes past 8, most residents of Kapsabet town, the capital of Nandi County, are not yet awake. The few people you meet are fighting to suppress yawns in the chilly morning. Reading the names of the various shops, one easily makes conclusions about the economic activities of the residents: Kapsabet Farmers… Kapsabet Dairy...

Sitting at the edge of Rift Valley, Nandi’s is largely an agricultural economy. It is also the home of record-breaking athletes who have been a source of pride to the country.
My appointment with Governor Cleophas Lagat, is at 8.30.

Dr Lagat has already been in his office for more than two hours, and the queue of people outside is getting longer as we walk in. The former principal of Eldoret Polytechnic speaks in guardedly and chooses his words with military precision.

Dr Lagat says he did not want to join politics. He made the decision after the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010.

“I joined politics because I thought that the Constitution had created the non-controversial post of governor which one could use to change people’s lives. I thought I could improve lives of ordinary people,” he said.

The governor hopes to harness the county’s strategic positioning to expand trade with its neighbours. “Our plans are to set aside the Chemase area as economic zone for free trade. This will target neighbouring counties as Kisumu, Busia, Kakamega and Uasin Gishu. Our county has major tourists attractions, an example of which is the Nandi Rock.”

He thinks such cooperation can be extended to sports. The county has tendered for construction of a world-class sports stadium.

“We are the home of athletics. One of the Diamond Leagues can be held in Nandi,” he said.

“We are about 40 minutes away from the homelands of football giants Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. It would be beautiful if they held some of their matches here.”

One senses a certain resoluteness when speaking to governors. First, they are strongly persuaded that if managed well, devolution can dramatically transform the lives of poor Kenyans. Secondly, it appears that most of them want to tap into existing resources, mainly in agriculture.

According to the governor, Nandi County is the third-largest producer of tea in the country after Kericho and Bomet.

“We produce more than 210 million kgs of green tea. The sector is expanding rapidly, and in the next few years will take more than half of all available land in the county.”

Determined to protect devolution

The governor is also encouraging farmers to grow purple tea for which there is a lucrative market in the Far East, especially in China.
Like his colleagues who have featured in this column, he says the main challenges of the job revolve around education, health care, infrastructure, as well as what they now consider a threat from the Senate.

“We are determined to protect devolution at all costs. It is the only way to unlock resources from the centre for the benefit our people,” the former teacher said.

The bone of contention is oversight. And here, they argue, while they are comfortable with being accountable for their conduct, they maintain that primary responsibility has been entrusted to the county assemblies and people who elected them, not to the Senate.

Q: There is concern that governors don’t want to be held accountable yet they are entrusted with billions of taxpayers’ shillings. What is your take?

A: This supremacy fight between governors and senators is uncalled for. We decided to go for certain seats in the election. The governor has a government, the senator doesn’t. The problem is that we have failed to appreciate our roles. Most senators have never handled finance. They are ignorant, and think we carry cheques in our pockets.

We are not against oversight. What we are saying is that we are overseen by the county assembly and the people to whom we will go back after five years. Senators fear they might not have anything to show after five years.

The work the senators want is assigned by Article 96 of the Constitution which gives the Senate the powers to protect devolution by pushing for more resource allocation to counties, and a role in impeachment. They seem very keen on the second role. My concern is that is senators are out of touch with the reality on the ground. They speak as if they don’t belong to counties.

The ‘high priests’ stay in Nairobi from where they speak at governors. They still associate us with municipal councils. Why are they not taking on MPs over CDF? Let them summon us only after all other mechanisms have failed.

Q: It is more than 10 months since you took office. What ground have you covered?

A: Most of our energies have gone into the setting up of structures, including the appointment of Cabinet and drawing of the county integrated plan. The county government has now started rolling out capital expenditure. We are a rural agricultural economy; we have commissioned graders to do roads to ensure they are passable.

Q: And why has there been a delay in the appointment of chief officers?

A: We had challenges with space , but we have since created more offices.

Q: A report by the Director of Budget ranked Nandi as the highest user of money allocated in the first batch, nearly 380 million. How was that money spent?

A: We bought drugs for hospitals worth Sh37 million and allocated Sh60million for school bursaries. We also entered into a partnership with the Higher Education Loans Board which has structures to help distribute the bursaries. The rest catered for many other responsibilities, including salaries.

Q: Kisii Governor James Ongwae asked national government to “donate” the development of education infrastructure to counties. What is your view?

A: The Constitution does not say that education infrastructure belongs to the national government. The thinking of many governors is that education should be devolved. The areas of quality assurance and curriculum development can be left with the national government and hiring to TSC. But county governments are closer to matters and should be allowed to run education.

Q: Looking at the needs of your people, what three things keep you awake at night?

A: There are five, if you allow me. I am extremely concerned about education, water, hospitals, roads and agriculture. Fixing water will transform Nandi’s economy. Sufficient water will enable us to carry out horticulture, and revive the dairy sector.

Water will enable us to conduct irrigation. Our MCAs went to Israel and learnt about the kibutz system of irrigation; we want to replicate it. We want to pool together with other counties to buy fertiliser cheaply for farmers.

We are reviving the dairy industry and have already carried out vaccination against foot and mouth disease. Our next objective is to revive cattle dips. In education, our main challenge is school fees. As you know, we produced the best KCPE candidate last year, but we can do better than that.

I have just helped two Ogiek children who did their exams two years ago to secure places in secondary school. I want every child to go to school. We are in the process of transforming Mosoriot TTC into a university and Kapsabet Hospital into a teaching and referral hospital. We plan to employ 875 nursery school teachers. The county government is building 100 early childhood education centres.

Q: Tea is the mainstay of most farmers. Why do all the profits go the multinationals?

A: I have asked them to declare their corporate social responsibility schemes, especially on water, roads and schools. We don’t want to destabilise them, but we do want to engage them and understand, for instance, how they use their cess money.

Q: Would you consider non-renewal of the company’s leases as suggested by some residents?

A: There will be a renegotiation after the current leases expire. We will have a conversation whose primary target is to ensure farmers benefit. One of the other options is to rethink the cooperation.
Q: If Sunday Nation visits Nandi at the end of your term, what kind of county can we expect to find?

A: A thriving economy in which most residents can afford food and basic facilities like piped water, electricity and access to affordable health care, a stadium, street lights... a secure and peaceful county. We will also have a hall of fame to celebrate the achievements of our heroes. I am working hard to earn my place.