By Dorcas S
So acting on “orders from above”, GSU personnel who are sworn to serve and protect ALL Kenyans succumbed to the whims of a vindictive commander-in-chief and barred the duly elected Governor of Mombasa County Hassan Joho from an event in his county – the commissioning of a Vision 2030 project – Standard Gauge Railway Project.
Seriously? Can a president be so thin-skinned, petty and weak?
The latest puerility by President Uhuru Kenyatta reinforces, indeed confirms the narrative that Gov. Hassan Joho puts the fear of God in the president – but why?
What does Hassan Joho know about Uhuru Kenyatta that scares him?
Why is President Kenyatta afraid of Governor Joho in this dynamic that reminds one of the Trump/Putin dynamics?
To quote Chinua Achebe, “a frog does not hope around in broad daylight unless something is chasing it.”
A president does not pick a fight with an underling – which is what a county governor is – unless the president is afraid of the gravitas of the underling (governor) OR unless the underling (governor) touches a raw nerve.
Interestingly though, Hassan Joho is not the only governor Mr. Kenyatta has picked a quarrel with. The president went after the governor of Turkana Josaphat Nanok back in March of this year.
Why?
Because Mr. Nanok criticized Jubilee’s plans to lower the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill by 67%; in the process reducing the 15% oil share benefit due the good people of Turkana to 5%!
Kenyatta’s gripe with Joho is even more deep-rooted but again has at its root, economics and perceived slights and betrayal. In one account, a March 19, 2017 article in Daily Nation titled “Joho reveals why he fell out with President Kenyatta” writes that Joho and Mr. Kenyatta “differed after he (Joho) questioned why the Waitiki Squatters were being asked to pay for their title deeds after the (Kenyatta) government paid off Mr. Evanson Kamau Waitiki….”
The piece goes on to write that the Mombasa Governor also “opposed changing Vision 2030 plans to shift the building of a dry port in Voi to Naivasha in the Rift Valley”.
So I ask again, what does Hassan Joho know about Uhuru Kenyatta that scares him?
All one has to do is follow the money – from Waitiki to Naivasha – to understand why the governor’s mere presence and proximity makes the president jumpy and nervous!
And mark my words, this dynamic between the two politicians is here to stay – for a long time.
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