By Fredrick Okango
THIS MAN MUTAHI KAGWE, A LEADER OR A POLITICAL BREEDER?
Tonight allow me to be political at the height of the COVID-19 misfortune. I want to speak to Kenyans and specifically to the Mt. Kenya Nation. I promise I will not talk about the pending constitution amendment, but I will stick to matters leadership. After a series of observations since February 28, 2020, I have a lot to say about one man and I will be brief on this since I am keeping my social media distancing. We all know who took over health docket on that day. To be honest it has been baptism by fire for one Hon. Mutahi Kagwe.
In order to be a successful leader in a catastrophic event, one must be able to assess and adapt to the situation, be able to reinstate communications, be willing to make all kinds of decisions, and promote coordination between government and other actors’ responses to disasters or crises. Hon Mutahi Kagwe has proved that he is such a leader during this time of COVID-19 Pandemic. His appointment as CS Health could not have come at a better time.The appointing authority must be smiling even when some Kenyans are busy throwing shades of Brenda and Brian.
Leadership in managing disasters and emergencies can minimize the damage inflicted by an event whilst lack of successful leadership exacerbates the impact. True leaders must have certain skills and abilities in order to manage catastrophes based on the environmental conditions, institutions they lead and scope of the disaster. Indeed, COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise to the Mt Kenya nation and by extension Kenya as a whole.
Today CS Mutahi has come out as that leader that you can actually criticize, praise and lookfoward to his update without wishing for a replacement. His leadership competencies and traits have been tested in the last one month. He has been found to be a perfect fit for a job beyond Ministry of Health. I am not kidding here and your guess is as good as mine on this. Lets talk in 2021 around November.
A general conceptual framework for leadership requires that a leader must be able to demonstrate over a period of time his or her skills in : Crisis Leadership, Routine Emergencies, Catastrophic Disasters management , Extreme Events management and Leadership Performance. Hon. Mutahi Kagwe has so far past these tests with flying colours in the shortest period. I give him an A for ABLE. The question could be, was it by design or by default? I leave that to fellow Kenyans to answer. Remember he was also a Minister during the Kibaki administration that was praised for a stabilised economy.
To the Mt Kenya Nation, President Kenyatta is serving his last term as our president. He has been your regional political leader and in the last two years you have been struggling to get his replacement, not necessarily as the president but as a regional political leader. Please search no more.You have Hon. MUTAHI KAGWE. In the coming days political suitors shall be facing Mt. Kenya and I can assure you they will be many.
Allow me to stop here and go back to my mandatory curfew and voluntary quarantine. I will be back with a bigger agenda on this after the COVID-19. In sha Allah !
F. Okango is the Secretary General of the Thirdway Alliance Kenya, a formidable political party registered in Kenya.
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