I never wanted to be governor – Kivutha Kibwana

Former Makueni Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana now says that he never planned to become a county boss.

Speaking on Thursday on Spice FM, Kibwana said that despite this being the case, sometimes people cannot mechanically plan their lives and things just happen.

He noted his initial plan was to become the chairperson of the Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) and even interviewed for the position.

He added that despite doing well in the interviews, he did not get the job and that is when he decided to go for election as a governor.

The former governor noted that at the time, for one to get the job there had to be an agreement between leaders of the grand coalition government, then President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“I don’t think we can be able to 'mechanically' plan our lives. Some things just happen. For example, I didn’t really want to be a governor, I thought I was going to be chair of the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution but those days to get that position there was to be concurrence between Hon. Raila Odinga and President Kibaki.

“Although I think I did reasonably well in the interview, there wasn’t that concurrence and then President Kibaki after we talked told me it looks like that didn’t work and that is when I thought about being governor,” Kibwana stated.

He further noted that even at the time he decided to become a member of parliament, he did so because he still eyed the CIC job and thought it would be an appointment made through parliament.

Kibwana revealed that he had been following on the Constitutional change process from his time as an activist and he wanted to play a part in its implementation.

“I became a member of parliament because I thought the Constitution at that juncture had reached the point where the decision was going to be made in parliament. I was following the position.”

During his 10 years as Governor of Makueni, Kibwana always featured among the best-performing county bosses, ranking top for several years.

He was also among governors who had few graft-related issues during the 10 years.