Wakoli Bufwoli; was he a dumb leader or a servant of the people for choosing leadership over greed?

I've bumped on a TV interview on former Assistant Minister for Land in Kibaki's Grand Coalition Government and ex-Bumula MP, Sylvester Wakoli Bufwoli. I don't know when it was recorded but I was impressed, to say the least.

Born in 1952, the former teacher was elected to parliament first in 2002 and re-elected in 2007 on Ford-Kenya, then an affiliate of President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU).

In the moving interview, Bufwoli takes the journalists through his daily routine as a former MP living in the deep villages of Western Kenya. This includes attending to his firm where he has thousands of poultry chicken, goats, and cattle all housed in modest sheds of an ordinary villager.

Besides running his 40acre farm, the staunch Catholic is involved in day to day running of his Bunyula Highway Motel that is popular with travelers along that route for its delicious chicken recipe.

For a man who served as an Assistant Minister for Lands in the Grand Coalition Government for five years, one would have expected Wakoli Bufwoli to be living in Runda, Muthaiga, or in any suburb in Western or Nyanza.

Notably, most Grand Coalition Government offsprings benefitted immensely in the bloated government. Today a majority of them have properties in Muthaiga North, Runda, Garden Estate, Kahawa Sukari, and Donholm.

However, Bufwoli was a servant leader. When the rest embarked on a stealing spree, he was determined to make an honest livelihood and was contented with his salary which he invested in his village.

Had Bufwoli been a Kikuyu or Kalenjin legislator, he would be a laughing stock today. People would be saying, "Look at him, he had an opportunity to amass wealth like everyone else but instead blew up the opportunity".

That is Kenyans for you, they view an opportunity to serve in elective politics as a ticket to amass wealth through unscrupulous deals, wanton theft, and deal-making, case in point Rigathi Gachagua, Mike Sonko, Ferdinand Waititu, etc.

Kenyans get the leaders they deserve. In the just-concluded Kiambaa by-election, we witnessed with awe, a constituency endowed with massive resources and relatively knowledgeable rescind a selfless leader for a John-come-lately because of political correctness.

There can never be a bigger tragedy to society than what happened in Kiambaa. Interestingly, since UhuRuto happened, the same populace has been regretting voting for a six-piece suit. I doubt we shall do better in 2022.

It's only in Kenya where voters go to the polls to give another person a chance to 'eat'. In Mt Kenya for example, every election cycle we elect new MCA's, MPs, etc to punish those who we perceive to belong to this or that political persuasion.

Unlike Western, Nyanza, Coast, and Ukambani where they nurture leadership. As the quality of leadership improves by the day in those areas, Mt Kenya goes for streetwise thugs like Waititu, tenderprenuers like Gachagua, comedians like John Kiarie, and wife batters like Kago Wa Lydia.

Watching that interview I felt proud of Wakoli Bufwoli, leading an ordinary lifestyle despite having worked in one of the highest offices on the land. Retiring without the baggage of court cases, insecurity of future governments, or battling unknown diseases.

Had Bufwoli been from a certain region in this country, he would be running multi-billion businesses in Nairobi, owning properties in every corner of the republic. But since he chose public service over self-enrichment, he qualifies for a laughing stock in the eyes of thieves or the ones who have not had a chance to steal.