Something Big is Going Down Tonight, Bigger Than the NYS Graft Scandal and It Involves Kenya’s Governors

Governors awards in Kenya? It has surely been a long time coming.  And with all the graft accusations that have been flying around, it’s only fair that you celebrate and evaluate what your governor has achieved.

When Kenya launched a new dispensation in 2010, it bore fruit the introduction of gubernatorial positions that were meant to take over the various counties that had been born, they are 47 in total. So with budgets amounting to billions, they have been running things for the last two years without much question and interrogation. Not anymore!

Behold the Governors Awards which is a merit based award that is centered on County Governors’ innovative and sustainable strategies that have the greatest social economic impact in their respective counties.

This is an initiative brought forth by the Institute of Applied Studies and Research(IASR) a Research and Technical Assessment firm headed by one Desmond Boi a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist who is exceptionally versed in matters to do with Research, Prosperity Index Measurements and Community Development. This is in collaboration with Cosmopolitan Media Ltd and Royal Media Services among other stakeholders.

The main objective of the Governors Awards 2015 is to highlight the achievements of Governors during their tenure in office. The award seeks to identify, profile and recognize exemplary performance by Governors where they will have an opportunity to demonstrate their achievement midterm during their leadership. In the process, the Kenyan people will for the first time have an opportunity to know what their Governors have achieved so far.

The process is comprehensively wholesome ranging from self assessment from the Governors themselves whereby each Governor submits self assessment metrics in 25 categories. The process further moves to public participation and then an overall vetting which will be carried out independently by various judges from different professional bodies.  They include professional academic, regulatory and membership institutions amid others.

The Award ceremony is scheduled to go down tonight in a gala dinner at Intercontinental hotel from 6PM in a one of a kind ceremony which will be attended by all the Governors and some very high profile figures in the country.

And unlike other awards that have only focused on media relations as the key parameter of success, this one had delved deeper into other performance based categories.  They include: Health Service delivery, education, road network development, agriculture and food security, environmental conservation, transformative governance and many more others.

So will your governor be crowned as Governor of the Year? Keep it Ghafla to find out.