When many Kiambu voters hysterically woke up at the crack of dawn on August 8, 2017, they had two things to achieve that day.
The first thing was to re-elect the 'son of the soil' President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the second one was to elect Governor Ferdinand Waititu while voting out the then incumbent Governor William Kabogo who had allegedly 'disrespected' them on many occasions.
But hardly a year later, a large section of Kiambu voters are having to ask themselves whether they really made the right choice for the governorship position. Here is why.
1. Deteriorating medicare: Kiambu is currently in the national news after patients at Kiambu Level Four Hospital were filmed sleeping on the floor as there are no sufficient beds. The lucky patients to secure a bed also have to share including pregnant mothers.
Lack or shortage of medicine is also becoming a daily dose across all the county health facilities. During Kabogo's administration, Kiambu was a model county on matters healthcare.
2. The crackdown on sale of alcohol: If there are people longing for 2022 to 'teach' Waititu a lifetime lesson, they are bar owners and revellers in general who feel that Waititu's so-called fight against illicit brews is counter-procounter-productive.
In this case, the governor is widely seen to have his priorities upside down.
3. Alleged misappropriation of county funds: While campaigning under the 'United for Kiambu' umbrella, Waititu presented himself as a man of the people who would ensure prudent utilization of county resources. A year later, reports are rife that he is under investigations for nepotism, corruption among other allegations. Kiambu voters must be feeling betrayed!
4. Making unilateral decisions: The governor has been accused of making far reaching decisions without consulting other elected leaders. Case in point is when he initiated the war on illicit brews and when he merged all the 12 Kiambu water companies into one amid discontent among many residents.