When you are right, you can say ‘No’ to boss

Doing the right thing or telling the truth can have consequences. This could be the reason why, even in ancient times, when the King died the seemingly contradictory statement ‘The king is dead, long live the King’ was simultaneously used to announce his death.

The announcement not only told the death of the King but also the ascension of his successor; after all, it was the individual who had died but the Crown, with all its responsibilities, was to be passed to the next heir. In a nutshell, nobody wanted to be the harbinger of bad news. Much the same way a hooting owl perched on a tree is perceived to be a harbinger of bad luck, death or bad news and has stones thrown at it to chase it away.

Building Bridges Initiative

Therefore, when Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata, now the county’s Governor-elect, took the daring move to pen a letter to the Head of State regarding the unpopularity of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) campaign in Mt Kenya region, very few people listened to him or took him seriously.

Those in the President’s court went overdrive and schemes were hatched overnight on how to have him dethroned from the Senate Majority Chief Whip post, citing disrespect to the Head of State. It was argued that, although there was nothing wrong with telling the President what Kang’ata had told him, it was the manner in which the message was communicated that upset his detractors.

As a highly placed man in the Senate, it was argued that Kang’ata should have used other avenues to reach President Kenyatta.

Risky political gamble

It was a risky political gamble by the senator for telling it as it was and, indeed, he paid a heavy price for it, which he was prepared to do. Although his was an honest assessment and he avoided being personal, he was vilified left and right. Ultimately, he was sent packing and replaced with Kimani Wamatangi, then the Kiambu senator.

Wamatangi, too, would while his time in the high-profile office and also bolted when an opportune time arose towards the tail-end of the term of the last Parliament.

The two former senators’ paths have, once again, crossed and they are now joined at the hip as Governors of Murang’a and Kiambu counties, respectively—and on the same party ticket, United Democratic Party (UDA)—which is led by Deputy President William Ruto, the President-elect. They will attend meetings of the prestigious club of the Council of Governors together.

Kang’ata had the last laugh. What a strange twist of fate!

My point is, just like employees, politicians also have the right to say No to their bosses without being fired. However, unlike other employees, politicians lurk somewhere waiting for an opportune time to reap maximum benefits and would not hesitate to abandon their principles for survival.

Mr Kamau is a human resource manager and author.  [email protected].