Technocrats, first-timers eye Nyeri governor’s seat

Could a technocratic administration hold the key to unlocking Nyeri County’s economic potential?

This is a factor residents of Nyeri will be considering when they head to the polls next year, as the race for the top county job morphs into a contest of technocrats and “unseasoned” political hopefuls.

This comes with the entry of several business moguls, most of them first-timers on the political scene, in the battle for the Nyeri governor’s seat.

This is likely to build up to an interesting contest where more policies than politics will matter for anyone seeking the seat.

The latest entrant is former United Nations and World Bank staffer Gachara wa Kamanga.

Mr Gachara finds himself facing stiff competition from incumbent Governor Mutahi Kahiga, who is betting on his impressive development record and rising political star.

Interestingly, the race has so far attracted a list of technocrats and business moguls, unlike past races that saw seasoned politicians test each other’s political wits.

Others who have expressed interest in the seat are former KCB Bank deputy group executive Peter Munyiri, industrialist and business mogul Thuo Mathenge and engineer Wahome wa Matinga.

Renowned businessman Dan Wamahiu is also said to be eyeing the seat, completing the list of technocrats seeking a debut elective post.

Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina is the only career politician said to be eyeing the seat but is yet to make an official declaration.

Besides Mr Thuo and Mr Wamahiu, who unsuccessfully ran for governor and senator respectively, the rest come into the contest with little political experience.

Mr Gachara, who studied statistics and economics and has a professional background in performance management and strategy formulation at the UN, World Bank and USAid, believes the technocrats will set up Nyeri for economic transformation.

Party affiliation

He also was part of former President Mwai Kibaki’s backroom staff in the Vision 2030 programme.

This and his professional background, he believes, gives him an edge over his competitors in the run-up to the 2022 gubernatorial contest where Governor Mutahi Kahiga will be defending his seat and debut political record.

“The governor’s position is a management position. Our motto is simple: policy, not politics,” Mr Gachara told the Nation.

It is because of this principle that Mr Gachara is yet to announce his party affiliation, saying it is not at the top of his priority list for now.

“As much as it is a political posting, I am urging people not to focus too much on political affiliation but rather on the agenda and frameworks we intend to apply to improve the lives of the people of Nyeri,” he said.

Being a technocrat and a newcomer in the political arena, Mr Gachara is also eyeing a technocrat as his deputy in the race, insisting on forming a technocratic administration.

“My agenda for Nyeri is transformation and hence I do intend to pick a like-minded deputy. It is still too soon to name anyone but we are scouting for the right person for Nyeri,” Mr Gachara said.

In his agenda for Nyeri, he intends to focus on agricultural growth through value addition and subsistence farming, irrigation and industrialisation.

He noted that Nyeri still has great potential in anchoring its growth on agriculture and industrialisation but lacks the right kind of plan to actualise this.

For this, he says he intends to support agriculture at the household level by ensuring the right types of crops are grown and the market is available locally and beyond.

“If we can uplift farming and ensure every household is bringing in Sh2,000 per day, then we can be sure that we will create employment for the youths. This will be made possible by ensuring the farmers are growing the right type and quality crops which we will introduce, and also make sure the market is available,” he said.

He said previous administrations had failed to come with realistic and people-centred policies to fix the ailing tea and coffee sectors.

“The problem has always been having leaders promise to do unrealistic things to fix the problems without actually having a plan to do it. We cannot claim to have the solutions instantly but by engaging the right experts together with the people, we will come up with the right frameworks,” Mr Gachara argued.

If he is elected, Mr Gachara will face a crisis in healthcare, which continues to be a headache for most devolved governments.

He enters the race against the backdrop of drug shortages and a failed Universal Health Care (UHC) pilot programme in Nyeri County.

This problem, he believes, can be fixed by revamping hospital management systems by setting up teams of managers and locally trained healthcare providers. He also argued that providing regular training to medics will solve the crisis of the shortage of specialists in county facilities.

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