Quite a number of people have shown interest in the Nyamira gubernatorial seat come next year.
One of them is Prof Reuben Marwanga who is the chairman of Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA).
Having traveled widely and interacted with several publics, Prof Reuben Marwanga believes that he has what it takes to make Nyamira County great.
He believes his networks can bring to Nyamira the much yearned for development partners.
Prof. Marwanga says that time is now right for him to serve Nyamira at the top seat and improve the economy of the people.
KeNIA is a government agency charged with the responsibility of developing and managing Kenya’s National Innovation System.
He tells The Scholar Media Africa that he is joining the race because Nyamira County needs new leadership, new direction and thinking.
“The last nine years have not shown any significant change in the lives of the people of Nyamira and yet close to Ksh 50 billion shillings have been injected into the County since devolution came,” laments the Professor.
He adds that he is offering himself to provide alternative governance for the County.
“With training, earned skills, experience and national and international networks, I am confident that I have the knowledge, the experience and capacity to bring the change that our County so badly require right now,” he adds.
Key pillars
Building his leadership on four pillars, Prof Marwanga believes that his will be the best blue print in administration, service delivery and economic recovery for Nyamira County.
“My priorities will be on four main pillars that impact the people of Nyamira in a direct way and this will manifest itself in positive change on their standard of living,” he says.
Prof Marwanga is a native of Sironga in Nyamira South Sub County.
The four pillars are; education, health, employment and infrastructure.
On education, he says his administration will start by assessing all physical facilities of primary and secondary schools in the County.
Assessment on equipment available will be done with a view to bringing schools to the current digital age.
“Our children must be introduced to new technologies as early as possible, so the county will invest in that,” he says.
To bring to par Nyamira to other advanced counties in the country, he proposes to upgrade and equip all the 113 health facilities in the county adequately.
“After assessing the needs of the health facilities, my government will immediately initiate the process of introducing insurance cover that takes care of all Nyamira people, just like Makueni County has done,” notes the Professor.
“To improve infrastructure across the County, I will work closely with the County Assembly to ensure that roads in every Ward are motorable in all seasons,” says Prof Marwanga, adding that, “this will be achieved in a short time through use of a combination of machinery and labour that is abundant in the county.”
He hopes to arrest the issue of unemployment through the injection of resources and skill investment in manufacturing.
He intends to initiate cottage industries that will create thousands of jobs.
“I have done this elsewhere and I want to do it for my people in Nyamira County,” says Prof Marwanga.
He adds that because much of the county’s population depends highly on agriculture, he will tie his four pillars towards the sector.
He says that better roads for example, will enable food crops to reach markets early.
“If we invest on value addition, technology based farming and practice seed research, there will be plenty on the tables of the people. They will even have surplus for sale,” he says.
Academic journey
One may agree that by every means, Prof Marwanga is such learned and experienced.
Having started his early education at Ramba Primary School and Nyansabakwa Secondary both in Nyamira County before proceeding to Strathmore High School for A-Levels and University of Nairobi for a degree in engineering, he believes he started small and time is right to come back and serve his people.
“I yearned for further skills whereby I proceeded to Fourah Bay College for a Masters in Industrial Engineering then to Penn State University, USA where I earned a PhD in Industrial Engineering,” notes the 2007 aspirant for the West Mugirango parliamentary seat.
He also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) from York St John University, UK.
He is an Alumnus of both Fulbright and UNESCO prestigious Fellowships and is a Member of Higher Education Academy, UK.
Prof Marwanga, who has previously served as dean at Strathmore University, says he is proven and tested for results.
“While I was dean, I helped initiate the establishment of the current School of Computer and Engineering Sciences, a school that has grown tremendously over time,” he says
He is now a Professor of Industrial Engineering at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK).
He adds that his star kept shining through the times at the university.
During his tenure at Strathmore University, Prof Marwanga says he successfully initiated and established a business incubator, one of its kind – to assist start-ups with development and commercialization of new innovations that create new products and services leading to new businesses and companies and consequently employment for Kenyans.
Innovative manager
Besides academic work, the aspiring governor says he has extensive experience in management consulting including performance evaluations and applied research in international development and cross-sectoral programs implemented in low resource countries.
The countries include Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
He says that these skills will be beneficial in his endeavor to be Governor.
He says that leadership at that level requires cross cutting prowess and vast understanding of trends and emerging issues.
“I have demonstrated track record of success and achievement in designing, coordinating, assessing policy and programs, and conducting assessments and evaluations of development projects in diverse fields.
The fields include manufacturing, energy, transportation, water and sanitation/hygiene, ICTs, health, Agriculture and capacity building for purposes of informing programmatic and policy decisions,” says the Engineer.
Prof Marwanga also serves as an Adjunct professor of operations and supply chain management, strategic information systems and innovation and entrepreneurship at Strathmore University.
He adds that with the solid knowledge he has through working with governments, local communities, private sector, international organizations, and donor agencies, Nyamira will benefit greatly.
He says that he understands leadership dynamics in county leadership versus citizen needs.
He is also a co-founder and Chairman of Marwanga Foundation that aims at empowering poor and vulnerable families.
The foundation, he says, has so far supported over 500 students with fees and other school needs.
Prof Marwanga says that he understands poverty levels of the people of Nyamira and that should the people give him a chance to lead, he will lobby for resources from all partners and well wishers such that the kitty for the vulnerable grows to accommodate more people.
Should he be elected, through his Foundation, sponsorships and other sources and partners, he will ensure that no child is sent home because bursaries will be harnessed to cater for fees of up to 100% for students from poor families.
“Youth in Nyamira will be a priority for me. Besides providing education bursaries to the needy, the other budget items will be for talent development including sports, music the arts and culture,” adds the aspirant.
He says that he has been supporting a women soccer team and musicians for a long time now.
Healthy competition
Aware of the many candidates who have declared their intentions to run for the same position, Prof Marwanga says once the people of Nyamira have a chance to weigh him against his competitors he is convinced they will overwhelmingly vote for him.
“I have put my strategies well in advance and I’m doing my ground work to marshal early support for my candidature.
I will run an issue-based campaign and would expect my competitors to do the same,” says he soft spoken engineer.
On revenue, he believes that the County government has a huge potential to collect much from its own streams as well as attract funds from many internal and external sources.
“I see that allocation from the national kitty is seed funding that will enable the governor attract other funds from other sources.
Once elected, I will have the people’s power to go out there, talk to local and international leaders, seek development partners and make the case for economic support for Nyamira County,” he says.
“All that this requires is confidence, courage and good networks and the capacity to make the case for funding,” notes Prof Marwanga.
He believes that he possesses these rare skills and networks.
