Politics over progress: How Embu Governor Mbarire betrayed Embu’s development trust
Governors are not conduits of pressure, rather, they are custodians of public resources. Their duty is to say no when pressure conflicts with legality and development priorities.
When history judges leadership, it is rarely kind to those who choose spectacle over substance. Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire’s decision to divert Sh10million earmarked for an industrial park to bankroll a boda boda empowerment event is a textbook case of politics triumphing over development, popularity eclipsing accountability, and misuse replacing custodianship of public resources.
The funds in question were not discretionary handouts or emergency allocations. They were budgeted for an industrial park, a long-term investment meant to create jobs, stimulate manufacturing, attract investors and anchor Embu’s economic future.
Instead, the money was rerouted to fund a politically convenient event attended by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, complete with fanfare and populist appeal.
That choice speaks volumes.
At a time when counties are struggling to generate sustainable economic growth, industrial parks represent hope, structured, productive and forward-looking development.
Boda boda empowerment forums, while socially relevant, do not replace industrial infrastructure. They are recurrent, consumptive and politically attractive, but they do not lay foundations for lasting prosperity. One creates systems; the other creates applause.
Governor Mbarire’s defence that the county acted “under pressure” to support boda boda SACCOs is perhaps the most troubling part of this episode. Pressure from who? And why should pressure, political or otherwise, override the law, the budget and the public interest?
Public finance management is not governed by emotion, crowds or political calendars. It is governed by the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act and the principles of accountability and transparency.
Governors are not conduits of pressure, rather, they are custodians of public resources. Their duty is to say no when pressure conflicts with legality and development priorities.
If every budget line can be redirected under “pressure,” then county budgets become meaningless documents and development planning collapses into improvisation. Today it is an industrial park; tomorrow it could be hospitals, water projects or classrooms sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
This is why the Senate Public Accounts Committee must not be lenient. Leniency in cases of financial redirection sends a dangerous signal that budgets are flexible tools for political survival rather than binding commitments to citizens. The committee’s role is not to sanitise impropriety with sympathy, but to enforce discipline, set precedent and protect public funds from abuse.
Kenya’s devolution experiment cannot survive if governors are allowed to raid development votes to fund events that curry favour with powerful political figures. Accountability must not bend because a Deputy President attended the event, nor because boda boda riders are a vocal constituency. Popularity does not legalize misuse.
The boda boda sector deserves structured support, access to credit, safety training, insurance and integration into county transport planning. But such support must be planned, budgeted and approved through lawful processes, not financed through last-minute diversions that undermine other critical projects.
By choosing politics over development, Governor Mbarire failed a basic leadership test.
Leadership is not about who cheers loudest at rallies; it is about who benefits years later from sound investments. Embu residents will not measure her legacy by empowerment events, but by factories built, jobs created and opportunities sustained.
The Sh10million diversion may appear small in isolation, but it symbolises a larger governance problem, the normalisation of misuse dressed up as responsiveness. If left unchecked, such actions hollow out devolution and reduce county governments to campaign machines.
The Senate must draw a clear line. Public funds are not campaign tools, development budgets are not slush funds, and governors are trustees, not political spenders. Anything less would be an endorsement of impunity and Embu, like Kenya, deserves better.
