Nakuru entered Kenya’s history books by hosting the first ever Madaraka Day celebrations outside the usual seat of power, Nairobi.
This happened barely two months after Nakuru was thrust to the spotlight when it hosted Jubilee's thanksgiving rally still at Afraha stadium. However, despite all this to brag about, and the pomp and colour witnessed during the celebrations, one thing left a lot to be desired: the speech and presentation by Governor Kinuthia Mbugua.
Residents were disappointed with Kinuthia’s speech during the occasion. Apparently not sure of himself, he thanked the president for choosing Nakuru as a host of the 53rd Madaraka party and said the obvious; Nakuru is a county of immense diversity.
Next was appreciating his men and women. Although recognizing local MPs and MCAs was politically critical, it wasn't the smart thing the governor would have done. He had the attention of the nation with millions glued on TV and envoys in attendance, as such, one wonders why the ex-police boss mumbled his words instead of marketing his house to the visitors and viewers.
Another blunder was for the county boss to read a 'boring' speech which had already run on newspapers advert placed by his handlers days ago. The speech had been read by many peopel and therefore killed the excitement of having something fresh, catchy and worthy for journalists to write home about.
Mbugua, it seemed, suffered crowd flight. He feared the crowd would boo him and as such hurriedly read his speech and quickly disappeared from the mic. This is is not what was expected of a host, he would have electrified the masses and awe them with eloquence and choice of words, but too bad!
His presentation was below average and an obvious let down to the only county that can boast of nesting flamingos.