The date was August 25, 2022 and thousands of supporters had thronged the Nakuru show grounds to witness the swearing in of their county’s third governor Susan Wakarura Kihika.

This was about two weeks after she emerged the winner of the hotly contested gubernatorial seat in the August 9 general elections that were preceded by a gruelling campaign which had seen five candidates throw their hats in the ring.

Her confirmation as the county’s first female governor was an addition to her many firsts in the region's political arena, having previously been named the county’s first female senator in 2017 and the first speaker of the inaugural Nakuru county assembly in 2013.

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika receives Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua in Nakuru for a meeting addressing alcohol and drug abuse.

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA| MTAA WANGU

The hallmark of the colourful ceremony was Ms Kihika’s maiden speech in which she spelled out her progressive manifesto to Nakuru residents, touching on all sectors of development.

The attentive crowd were however keen to know how the governor intended to fulfil the promises she had made to them during campaigns and how she planned to address the perennial challenges they faced.

Conspicuous in the manifesto was the issue of water shortages, transport infrastructure, pyrethrum revival, public sector reforms, education, health among others.

The hopeful crowd cheered in agreement as the governor mentioned each of these in her speech, a sign that she well understood the task they had bestowed upon her.

After 365 turns around the sun, the governor’s performance is now open for assessment. But opinion is divided over her ratings.

Whereas a good faction believes the governor has performed within a short period of time, there are others who feel she has ignored or turned back on her words in certain areas.

Mr Eliashif Magoma the chairperson of the Nakuru Residents Association is of the opinion that Ms Kihika has managed to give an indication of what she is capable of doing in the remaining four years of her term.

He lauded the governor for continuing with the development projects that she inherited from the previous regime including the Afraha Stadium, the modern Fish Market, the treasury plaza as well as the pyrethrum revival efforts.

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika (centre) during the ground breaking ceremony of Kentegra pyrethrum factory in Manera farm Gilgil.

Photo credit: MERCY KIHUGU/MTAA WANGU

“Her decision to continue with these projects is a clear indication that she is interested in what benefits the residents since she had a choice to start her own projects,” said Mr Magoma.

Mr Magoma also commended the governor for putting her staff to account by having them sign performance contracts in a public function.

The resident however feels the governor needs to put more effort in the health docket which he said has been dogged by discontentment from the staff, as evidenced by the consistent industrial actions.

Read: Court makes pivotal ruling on ongoing Nakuru doctors strike

Mr Paul Masese, the Chief Executive Officer at Centre for Enhancing Democracy (CEDGG) in his analysis of the governor’s performance for the year notes that her biggest fail is in the composition of her cabinet.

Mr Masese said he expected that Ms Kihika, being a woman governor, would improve gender parity in the appointment of her cabinet.

“I was disappointed that she only met the minimum requirement, especially in the appointment of County executive members. I expected that she would have equal genders in the cabinet,” said Mr Masese.

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika during the signing of performance contracts at the Office of the Governor building.

Photo credit: COURTESY

Furthermore, the good governance champion rates the governor low promoting cohesion in the county arguing that he had only considered the majority tribes.

“It took people to move to court for her to reconstitute her cabinet,” he said.

Acting County Secretary Dr Samuel Mwaura however described the year as one which had many achievements.

According to Dr Mwaura the governor established a Public Sector Reforms Taskforce to look into and provide solutions to a number of issues including human resource, process of automation of services and resolve issues around the inherited projects.

“Within a year the taskforce has been able to midwife promotions in various departments, has done biometric registrations and staff audit to weed out ghost workers. We have also been able to automate most of our services including revenue collection, building plan approvals and human resource,” said Dr Mwaura.

Among the promises she has fulfilled according to Dr Mwaura include the harmonization and disbursement of funds, sinking of new boreholes and rehabilitating of the existing ones’ as well as construction of new roads in Gilgil, Molo and Njoro

A major challenge however has been the huge pending bill which amounted to over Sh 5 billion.

Also Read: Suppliers laud Kihika for directive on pending bills

Dr Mwaura explained that the governor has so far allocated Sh 1.5 billion towards clearing of the bills.

Governor Kihika has also faced a number of court suits which derailed her momentum for a while. These include the suit that challenged the appointment of her CECs and the Chief Officers.

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Read: Kihika at One: This is what I have done for the people of Nakuru

Kihika at One: A tough talking governor with a few fulfilled promises

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Joseph Openda