Hard-hitting Nanok at helm of devolution

From an obscure NGO worker to becoming the first governor of resource-rich Turkana County, newly-elected chairperson of the Council of Governors (CoG) Josphat Nanok has carved a niche for himself in national and local politics with the craftiness and unwavering focus of the avid bridge player he always was.

Mr Nanok, who describes himself as “persuasive, diplomatic, an accomplished strategist and negotiator”, replaced Peter Munya whose two-year term has just ended at the CoG.

The Turkana County chief becomes the third governor to hold the seat of the lobby that represents common interests of the 47 counties. The first CoG chairman was Bomet governor Isaac Rutto who held the position from 2013 to May 21, 2015.

Mr Nanok is expected to fill the big shoes of his predecessors who have come off as “strong” defenders of devolution.

A bachelor’s degree graduate in political science and history from the University of Nairobi, Mr Nanok is seen as a straight talker.

In March, Mr Nanok was in the eye of a storm during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tour of Turkana County when the governor sparked an angry reaction from the President.

He criticised government plans to amend the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill to “deny” local communities 10 per cent oil share benefit as earlier proposed, attracting the wrath of President Kenyatta.

The President, accompanied by his deputy William Ruto, was in Lodwar to launch a drought mitigation plan to cushion pastoralists from major losses.

Mr Nanok, the ODM point man in the region, set the stage for the exchange after he said oil proceeds to the local community had been capped to “nothing useful”.

“Our opposition is the capping of the oil revenue from trillions to Sh22 billion and for the local community to around Sh3 billion,” Mr Nanok had said.

But President Kenyatta hit back saying he was not responsible for legislative changes and also accused Mr Nanok of having little to show for the billions of devolved funds disbursed over the last four years.

He accused the governor of peddling falsehoods that he was only interested in the region’s oil and not development.

“Turkana County deserves to develop at the same pace as other counties and its residents have a right to receive efficient and effective services under the devolved unit as other counties,” the President said.

Yet this was not first time Mr Nanok has been at the centre of controversy. He has ruffled many feathers several times during his decade-long political career where at times he has been seen to make inflammatory statements.

In 2012, then as a Forestry and Wildlife assistant minister, police arrested Mr Nanok and taken to court to answer to charges of incitement to violence.

The comments had been made in defence of the Turkana community for the massacre of 42 police officers who were in Baragoi.

Investigators had summoned Nanok, together with then Labour minister John Munyes, after they alleged that they knew some of the cattle rustlers who had attacked the officers and stated that the police should have sought the MPs’ help to convince them to return the stolen animals.

Mr Nanok had earlier ignored summons by the police prompting his arrest by the Flying Squad officers shortly after appearing on a television talk show.

But behind his utterances some of which have often found him on the wrong side of the law, Mr Nanok is seen as a pragmatic politician knowing when to negotiate and when to push harder.

It is reported that when the government sent military troops to his Turkana region to conduct a rigorous disarmament exercise, most residents fled their homes, fearing the operation would turn violent.

Mr Nanok was among Turkana leaders who petitioned the government to call off the operation, in favour of voluntary disarmament.

Media reports say the pragmatic yet effective action earned him praises and the nickname “Abuwang’imoe”, meaning “he who repulsed the enemy.”

Mr Nanok has previously held senior positions including top consultancies with the UN–WFP in Kenya, South Sudan and Eritrea. He has also worked with Oxfam GB in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.

Oil riches

He is seen as one of the most influential governors by virtue of being at the helm of a county that boasts of Kenya’s oil riches.

The Commission on Revenue Allocation ranks Turkana the poorest county in the country.

But the county is endowed with key resources.

Africa’s largest wind power plant is set to be built there while the county contains large oil deposits.

Water aquifers containing 250 billion cubic metres of water that experts say can serve the country for 70 years were recently been discovered in the county.

This makes Mr Nanok one of the most powerful governors in the country, charged with managing vast resources.

Before becoming the county’s first governor, Mr Nanok served in the 10th Parliament as the Turkana South MP.

He previously served as the deputy minister for the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Cabinet since 2008.

He was born in 1950.