SPEECH BY H.E. HON. DANIEL WAITHAKA MWANGI, GOVERNOR OF NYANDARUA COUNTY DURING THE ELNET ETHICAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE AND AWARDS- PANAFRIC HOTEL, NAIROBI. JULY 24, 2014. THE ORGANIZERS OF THIS IMPORTANT CONFERENCE, INVITED SPEAKERS WHO INCLUDE: HON. JUSTICE DANIEL MUSINGA –COURT OF APPEAL JUDGE, MS CAROLE KARIUKI OF THE KENYA PRIVATE SECTOR ALLIANCE (KEPSA), MR. JAMES MWORIA, THE CEO OF CENTUM INVESTMENT, MRS. BERNICE GACHENGU, THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, MS JULIE GICHURU- OF CITIZEN TELEVISION, ALL OTHER DISTINGUISHED GUESTS PRESENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, It gives me great pleasure to have been invited to address this conference and especially as key note speaker. An invitation of this kind can be mind boggling; you are interacting with some of the finest brains in our society yet you are not sure what it is they want to hear from you. For me personally, my family, and the people of Nyandarua County who elected me as their first Governor, we can only thank the people who sat somewhere and chose me to be a key speaker. The task bestowed on me in this conference can only be compared to asking a man to climb a ladder that is leaning on him. It is a gigantic task, to say the least. But I also recognize that this invitation is a great honour to me, first because the efforts my family has made over the years in the running of our business has captured the attention of people far away from where we live and have recognized our positive contribution to society. I received a letter from the organizers of this conference early last month which explained the reason they had chosen me to give the key note address. Allow me to paraphrase what they said in part: “We have identified you as an ethical leader in business and leadership and therefore invite you to consider participating in this conference as a key speaker.” And as if that was not enough, the letter further explained that this conference had identified persons who had “exemplified ethical conduct in their leadership and businesses” and that the whole idea of this conference was to help entrench “ethical living and business in Kenya’s largely corrupt leadership and business culture.” Now you know why I felt humbled by that letter: In a society where negative politics and corruption have taken center-stage, nothing brings fresh air than the feeling that in the midst of this confusion there is still hope for our society. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a short story about myself which is worth recounting. I grew up in a very poor family and my parents were labourers in a farm owned by a white settler farmer in Ol’Kalou, Nyandarua County where they did all sorts of manual work. I attended school in Nyeri County where I lived with my grandparents and only joined my parents and siblings during school holidays. Having performed well in primary school, I was admitted at Kagumo High School but my education appeared uncertain for lack of school fees. My parents could not raise a mere Sh400 school fees required for a whole year! After a lot of struggle I secured a bursary from then Nyandarua County Council and was able to sit for my “O” level examination and passed but my burning desire to fight poverty told me to secure a job and abandon further studies. Yes! However, my school Headmaster, the Rev. Douglas Melhuch could hear none of this and he literally dragged me back to class to continue with my studies in Form Five and Six. That is how I joined the University of Nairobi to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce Degree which I completed in 1972. After trying my hand in Government and private sector jobs- first as a college lecturer then as an accountant- I rose through the ranks to become a Chief Accountant. Eventually I abandoned salaried employment and my wife and I started the Nyahururu Elite Schools in 1980. We have gone through many challenges over the last 34 years since we founded this institution but suffice it to say that Nyahururu Elite Schools that offer ECD, Primary and Secondary education, are among the most successful private schools in Kenya and Africa today. I have also been a farmer, having undertaken small-scale horticultural farming in Ol’Kalou, as well as a dairy farming. I am proud to report that at one time, my dairy cows attracted a high prize during an annual Agricultural Assessment undertaken in Central Kenya. For me, nothing has come easy; the success my family celebrates today is as a result of dedication to hard work, personal integrity, commitment to duty, and unmeasured sacrifices. I am also a strong believer in confronting challenges without fear, even as I pray God to help me in my daily work. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe strongly that if the spirit of hard work, commitment and honesty could be exemplified in the public sector, then Kenya could be in the league of the Asian Tigers! Being a politician, I cannot leave the podium before saying a word about political leadership and ethics- not just in Kenya, but Africa as a whole. It is true that Africa needs special attention. We all know that Africa is the wealthiest continent in terms of natural resources but has the poorest people on Earth. This situation is unacceptable and must to be reversed. During a recent leaders’ conference organized by the African Forum on Religion and Government (AFREG) in Lusaka Zambia, participants identified the maladies facing Africa, chief among them the desire by the leaders to be idolized through sycophancy by followers who hardly speak the truth. The same followers end up being dangerous and a threat to leadership, hence enhancing the culture of corruption, inefficiency and nepotism. The net effect of this is inept and failed leadership for which we have glaring examples across our continent. As Governor of Nyandarua County, I am aware that one of the challenges facing our region is poverty among our people which has been accelerated by weak infrastructure, illiteracy, ignorance, and disease. I believe strongly the above challenges can now be addressed with the advent of the devolution in governance, which has come late, but nonetheless it is the most important political development to have occurred in Kenya since 1963. Ladies and gentlemen, Africa needs a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our affairs and I am in total agreement with the Lusaka meeting which resolved that Africa can only hope to grow if its leadership embraced zero-tolerance to corruption. At the Lusaka meeting where our county was ably represented by my Deputy Governor Hon. Waithaka Mwangi Kirika and Education Minister Hon. Peter Macharia, a number of issues were discussed. Allow me to re-cap some of them. Participants came up with strategies that could be used to bring about transformational leadership in Africa. These strategies include the following: • The need for African leaders to produce strong institutions instead of strong men, • The need for a leadership of corroboration not competition • The urgency to address issues of injustices, human dignity, good governance, corruption and rule of law, • Need to cultivate culture of celebrative leadership who believe the best about others, see the potential in others, and focus less on negative issues. • Embrace the diversity of ideas, and transformational leadership, governance and development among others. Personally, I am in agreement with all the issues mentioned above. Ladies and gentlemen, Allow me to conclude my remarks by saying that political leaders should be prepared to transform their thinking if we are to succeed in the mission of bringing about economic growth in our country Kenya. A country like Singapore- which imports water for use and is not even half the size of Nyandarua County- is today among the Asian Tigers. Singapore is only 43 kilometers long and 23 kilometers wide. We have many resources in Kenya that we could tap to achieve economic growth and transform the lives of our people. Clearly, time is not on our side. Once more I wish to thank officials of the Executive Leadership Network (ELNET) for inviting me to address this important conference. It is now my pleasure to wish you fruitful deliberations. Thank you and May God Bless us All.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:05:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015