By Hez Gikang’a
As President William Ruto prepares to nominate Deputy President Prof. Kithure Kindiki’s replacement at the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Kenyans have engaged in robust debate on the personalities perceived as frontrunners to fill this position.
The names range from the usual political operatives to security chiefs, to public administrators, diplomats, businesspersons and technocrats.
Featuring prominently in this unfettered public discourse is former Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Health, Mutahi Kagwe who rose to prominence when he was Cabinet Secretary for Health during the deadly Covid 19 season.
Given the high stakes and sensitive political, social, ethnic, security and geopolitical considerations at play as this position that is ranked the fourth most powerful in the current administration after the Presidency become a key focus.
Through this debate, Kenyans have demonstrated that they have a rare clarity on the deportment, track record and standards that they expect of the nominee, the ministry and this government in particular. These are not ordinary times in our chequered history, It is no longer business as usual in matters governance.
It is time to walk the talk on performance and service delivery, but also very importantly, on transparency and accountability for a ministry and government that has repeatedly faced accusations of abductions, forced disappearances and extra judicial killings. Is Mutahi Kagwe, or indeed a nominee of his caliber, the panacea to the challenges bedeviling the security sector?
Kagwe has had a stellar career in the public sector, having served as the Senator for Nyeri County (2013-2017), as the Member of Parliament for Mukurweini Constituency (2003-2007), as minister for ICT (2005-2007).
He served as cabinet secretary for Health during Covid 19 (2020-2022), and as such brings on board qualities and experience that Kenyans – across demographics, party, tribe, gender, educational background, economic status, and religious beliefs – are yearning for in the public service and executive leadership, namely, exemplary performance, service delivery, humility, empathy, resoluteness, integrity, fiscal and monetary discipline, and innovativeness.
Prior to becoming a legislator at the onset of President Mwai Kibaki ‘s reign, he had risen from an entry-level manager to the position of Commercial Director at Standard Media Group, within a decade of graduating from the University of Nairobi (UoN) with a degree in Commerce and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the United States International University (USIU).
Two of his most remarkable achievements then was conceptualization of the Digger Classifieds concept at the Standard newspaper, that drove advertising sales through the roof, and cemented the firm as a market leader; and the ‘Kenya for Kenyans” campaign that brought together corporations, philanthropies, development institutions, government, aid agencies, religious organizations, the media and private citizens in raising relief aid for those afflicted by the devastating drought and famine that wracked the country in 1994.
In the public square, and democratization process, Mutahi Kagwe served as the Communications Director for the savvy, nuanced, targeted 1997 presidential campaign for Hon. Charity Ngilu on a social democratic party (SDP) ticket that captured the imagination of Kenyans and enthralled voters and admirers alike.
It was the first nationwide campaign by a female candidate and remains unmatched to-date. Though Hon. Ngilu did not win the presidency, her campaign messaging, organizing, and policy outlook have drawn parallels with the epic 2008 Barack Obama campaign that made history by getting into the Whitehouse as a rank outsider, a first-term senator from Illinois, a person of color nonetheless, against many seemingly insurmountable odds.
Between this campaign and the December 2002 elections win by the Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Michael Wamalwa Kijana, Charity Ngilu, Prof. George Saitoti, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Prof. Peter Anyang Nyong’o-led political juggernaut that ushered in the second liberation, Mutahi was intimately involved in various initiatives, especially around democratization, citizen participation, good governance, policy analysis and political organizing.
Together with other luminaries like Prof. Anyang Nyong’o, Mutahi was part of the think-tank that crafted the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) economic revival Blueprint, that formed the bedrock of the Kibaki government’s Economic Strategy for Poverty Alleviation Wealth Creation.
The National Alliance for Change (NAC), had initially brought together 7 key political organizations – the Democratic Party (DP) under Mwai Kibaki, Ford Kenya under Kijana Wamalwa, National Party of Kenya (NPK), FORD Asili, Saba Asili, Peoples Progressive Forum (PPF) and the National Convention Executive Committee (NCEC) – with the sole goal of winning the 2002 general elections.
They formed a government of national unity, and saving Kenya from a total economic collapse by putting the country back on a democratic path to economic recovery and national development.
NAC entered into a pre-election coalition agreement with Raila Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).
Between 2003 and 2005, Mutahi Kagwe was the chair of the Finance, Trade, Tourism and Investment standing committee of the national assembly. Under his stewardship, the Committee is credited with pushing for many of the economic and business reform measures that created an enabling for government, business and citizens to unleash their long pent up entrepreneurship energies and prudent economic management that saw gross domestic product (GDP) rise from negative two in 2002 to 7% in 2007.
In mid-2005, Mutahi was tapped by President Mwai Kibaki to become the ICT minister. In the two years to the December 2007 elections, Mutahi is credited with conceptualizing and executing the most far reaching reforms in the digital economy sector through a number of initiatives, which laid the foundation for Kenya’s silicon savanna status and the booming digital economy sector.
The first was negotiating for private sector players in Kenya – internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunication companies alike – to get access, and own internet gateways at the Mombasa point of presence (PoP).
The second was inviting the private sector to partner with government in building a fiber optic cable connecting Kenya to the world. This crystallized in the 5,000km East Africa Marine system (TEAMS) fiber optic cable connecting Mombasa to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
TEAMS Kenya Ltd is 85% owned by Kenya (20% Government; 32% Safaricom Ltd; 23% Telkom Kenya; 10% Liquid telecom; 6% Wananchi Group; 5% Jamii Telecom Ltd; 1.8%; Access Kenya Group and 1.2% by BCS Group. The balance of 15% is owned by Etisalat of UAE.
TEAMS was designed to have an initial capacity of 80 Gb/s, but this was increased to 120 Gbit/s, and with its reliable, low latency system has increased traffic from Kenya and other East African countries, massively slashing the cost of data, making it affordable for many Kenyans, reducing costs for providers, increasing internet usage and reliability, thereby contributing immensely to economic growth over the years.
The third initiative was the privatization of Telkom Kenya. The government was keen to divest from Telkom Kenya by selling a 51% stake and raise much needed capital whilst bringing in a strategic partner who would restructure the firm and make it competitive.
Mutahi was able to raise $390mn from the winning bid by the France Telkom-Alcazar consortium, a whopping $170mn above the PKF Consulting market valuation of $220mn.
The fourth groundbreaking initiative was the origination and shepherding of the initial public offering (IPO) of 25% of Safaricom shares. The 10 billion share offer was massively oversubscribed, with retail investors oversubscribing by 670%, and institutional investors by 321%.
The share offer raised $863mn (Ksh. 51.75bn then), and created a demand equivalent to Ksh. 226bn. Coming immediately after the deadly post-election violence in December 2007 and January 2008 where 1,300 people lost their lives and 300,000 were rendered homeless, this was a huge vote of confidence for Kenya at a critical juncture in our history, governance, and President Mwai Kibaki’s economic policies.
Safaricom and MPESA have since gone in to dominate the world, and is East and Central Africa’s largest and most profitable listed firm, with a current market cap of US$627,024mn.
Of course, Mutahi has benefited from synergies from having had the privilege of shadowing, working with, learning and latitude from a distinguished group of public servants and leaders whose singular focus has been public service and the best interests of Kenya as a whole.
From H. E. Mwai Kibaki, whose celebrated macroeconomic policies and demeanor made him flourish in his postings, to the late Minister for Internal Security John Njoroge Michuki who brought order to the security docket and in the public transport sector, to contemporaries and cabinet colleagues like Dr. Fred Matiang’i in Education and Internal affairs, Prof. George Magoha in Education, Nelson Marua in provincial administration, Joseph Kinyua and Francis Muthaura, and Prof. Bitange Ndemo in the digital economy space..
Kagwe understands and upholds the collegiality required of the cabinet, the interdependence of the different arms of government, the import of the oath of office, and the institution of the presidency as the symbol of national unity.
This is the kind of battle-tested, tried and proven nominee that Kenyans are urging President Ruto to nominate for this position.
Mr Gikang’a is a political analyst and publicist based in Nairobi
