The second Governor of the populous county 039 has not gotten it easy basing on the opinions on the ground. Currently the regime is not performing well as it’s perceived by the residents of the county. One out fifteen people will tell you the current governor will be reelected.
This seems poetic but unfortunately that’s the current situation all over the county. However, as I have mentioned the rating is just perception. The voters perceive that Governor Wangamati has done nothing basing on his earlier manifesto.
Is it true that Governor Wycliffe Wangamati is not performing in terms development?
Not true. Infact statistically the Governor has done a lot compared to the predecessor within two years in office. Right now there’s a county project finished or ongoing touching on health sector, roads,floodlights and water in every single ward.
That means the Governor has done more than what the former Governor did in five years. Though putting on the scale with his counterparts like Kakamega’s Oparanya, Kitui’s Charity Ngilu, Nairobi’s Mike Sonko just to mention a few, he’s far from good.
The current senate speaker is taunted to win with a landslide if he chooses to comeback and contest for the same position he once held. Ironically very few people wish to listen to wangamati’s development agenda.
The cause of all this is within the Governor’s inner house. The army surrounding him from the county executive committee members, chief officers, directors and even advisors, have let him down. I will be unfair to condemn all officers for Wangamati’s low rating because there are some notable outstanding individuals who have perfomed well so far.
The CECM for roads Mr. Collins Mukhongo has done treamendously well. The mindset of the electorates towards his docket is very positive despite the issues of nepotism in awarding road construction tenders. Regardless of all that, he’s believed to be the most hardworking in Wangamati’s regime.
Two categories of Wangamati’s servants that will send him home come 2022.
The truth is that, the Governor wanted politicians in his regime to continue spreading his gospel and play his trumpet across the county after 2017 elections. This is the reason he employed the characters like; Job Chelongo, Nancy Kibaba and those who may not know Bifwoli Wakoli is also an employee of the county government.
Another group of individuals who were not politicians then, have now confirmed and become like the trio. The individuals like Simiyu Mutaki, CECM for environment Renson Makheti, Carolyne Buyela (Advisor special programs), CECM for Agriculture Makanda Mathews and others are focused on 2022 and have completely forgotten the county Government’s agenda. Instead they are focused on branding themselves as opposed to their boss.
This group is rarely traverse away from their point of interest. Like Mutaki who’s keen to become the MCA can hardly move beyond his ward.
Mr. Makanda has a keen interest in kimilili constituency seat and employs most of energies to brand his name rather than the Governor. The lady in the mix is Carolyne Buyela who’s focused on Webuye East constituency and her movements constrained within the constituency.
She brands herself through public forums, funerals and social media. The electorates hardly associate her with the county boss. The veteran politicians like Bifwoli, Chelongo and Kibaba have already made their names known in the public domain thus the focus now is to keep the little they get for 2022.
The second category is the so called technocrats. They hardly appear in public whether its physical appearance, mainstream or social media. Their focus is to amass wealth as much as possible.
Politics is not part of their daily life instead they put much effort in deals that will see them acquire more wealth. They are the reason most youth and other businessmen are lamenting it’s cumbersome to acquire a tender in Bungoma county. This group is responsible for Wangamati’s low rating among the elites.
Lastly the Deputy Governor is playing a major role for his boss downfall due his underneath dealings in terms of employment. He’s also perceived now as a man who hardly says the truth. The residents hardly take his word with the seriousness it deserves.
He has so far employed over fifteen individuals from his locality to work with the county government. If the Governor cannot see the light in the spread out darkness as early as now, then the main opponent speaker Ken Lusaka or the upcoming Zack Barasa will not bother to campaign.
