Kenya was treated to a very unsavoury episode last week. Two very senior public officials entrusted to lead critical service institutions allowed a commercial feud to boil over with potentially disastrous consequences. The two officials, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and Kenya Power CEO Dr Joseph Siror, demonstrated poor emotional intelligence. The spat showed clearly that there are no conflict resolution mechanisms at the top echelons of government – a very worrying scenario.

Kenyans awoke to garbage dumped by Nairobi County government workers at the entrance of Kenya Power headquarters at Stima Plaza in Nairobi to retaliate for the power monopoly’s disconnecting electricity to its facilities due to unpaid bills. The stench at Stima Plaza and its environs was sickening.

The bone of contention was that both entities were demanding money from each other, but could not agree on who owed who what. Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi waded into the saga. But all he ended up doing was escalating tensions by siding with Kenya Power. He really should have provided a neutral platform for the parties to come together rather than be seen to be partisan.

Fortunately, cool heads eventually prevailed. Head of Public Service Felix Koskei used his office to bring all the protagonists and interested parties around a table. An agreement was reached on how the matter would be settled amicably. So simple one wonders why it had to take all the hysteria to get the government to call these two warring parties to order.

The tiff exposed the discordance at the top levels of government. The Nairobi County government and Kenya Power are not just any other entity – they are two of the most critical entities in service delivery in Kenya. The government system should have moved long ago to settle this matter. Instead, it has been left to fester for years. The longer it remained outstanding, the more it emboldened both parties to take even more hardline stances and extremist actions to “coerce” payment.

Fortunately, there were no casualties. But this is the kind of saga that could lead to the loss of lives.

This is a wake-up call for the government, which prides itself on a whole-government approach. This means that public entities deal with each other seamlessly. This whole-government approach failed spectacularly this time. The government might want to undertake a deep introspection on why this happened.

It needs to establish a mechanism for conflict resolution among public entities, or even public figures. Conflict among public entities is inevitable. There will be commercial disputes, outstanding debts, policy antagonism, operational disagreements and such like. They should not be allowed to spill over to the public in such a hysterical manner.

Finally, the police have arrested some officers of the county government ostensibly for questioning over the incident. Not to be left behind, Director Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has ordered a probe into the incident, stating that the saga demands legal action.

All this is tomfoolery. If Ingonga wants answers, he should just summon the governor. The governor is all in on his government’s action. He even doubled down on it. Ingonga must surely be fully aware that such a drastic and potentially politically explosive action could not have been taken without the nod, if not full authorisation, of the governor. They should stop these sideshows, accept the government system’s failure, take their lessons, and let the country move on!

Victimising poor county employees who have zero decision-making mandates nor capacity for countermanding instructions from their senior’s smacks of scapegoating.

What is the way forward? The matter has been resolved. A way forward to resolve the impasse has been found. Koskei should officially write to all parties admonishing them for allowing matters to escalate to this point. There should be no victimisation of any officer. And all should go back to work. As for the government, take the lessons learnt and implement them.

— gathukara@gmail.com