Thank God for CS Mutahi Kagwe - US Publication

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe addresses a press conference on Covid-19 in Nairobi in March 2020
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe addresses a press conference on Covid-19 in Nairobi in March 2020
File

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has earned international recognition after New York-based publication Wall Street Journal recognised him as a hero in the fight against Covid-19.

In a Weekend article dated April 4-5, 2020, titled, "Thank God for Calm, Competent Deputies" under the subtitle "In This Crisis, the Deputies are the Heroes We Need", Kagwe is defined as one of the best handlers of the pandemic in the world.

Ranked among few other leaders from around the world, among them a doctor from South Korea and another from the UK, the media outlet stated that they had risen from the shadows to take control of a pandemic, members of the public would have only looked to elected officials.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe when he held a consultative meeting on Covid-19 response with officials from the ministry,  the Kenya Healthcare Federation and CEOs from the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals at Afya House on Thursday, March 26, 2020.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe when he held a consultative meeting on Covid-19 response with officials from the ministry, the Kenya Healthcare Federation and CEOs from the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals at Afya House on Thursday, March 26, 2020.
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"The leaders who have distinguished themselves under pressure are rarely the bold, charismatic, impulsive, self-regarding, politically calculating alphas we have elected. The real heroes have been, for lack of a better term, career deputies," the publication states.

The news outlet further describes Kagwe as a leader whose character and personality was thought as not political but now built for the health ministry and the fight against Covid-19.

"Kenya's unlikely coronavirus hero is health minister Mutahi Kagwe, a businessman with an M.B.A. who had washed out of elective office. In politics, Mr.Kagwe was seen as a technocrat; too ordinary and emotionally distant. In his coronavirus briefings, these traits became assets,

"Mr Kagwe projects calm, emphasises evidence and urges Kenyans to face facts, a style one senator described as 'a breath of fresh air," the publication states.

The publication references a social media poll by Kenyans.co.ke on Kagwe's crisis leadership where he was rated 8 out of 10.

The CS has in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic employed a hands-on approach in tackling the virus, urging all members of the public to step up in the fight, acting on the given national directives.

Kagwe in shielding members of the public from misinformation, and the spread of panic directed that all communications on the adversities of the virus in the country be issued from a central place, Afya House.

The recognition comes at the back of a rallying call the CS made to the youth in the country asking them to join in the fight, stating that the young were most vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic but also the most resilient, thus needed lead from the front.

"As others have done in the past, I appeal to you to really take the responsibility as seriously as the generations that were there with our forefathers.

"If we do not do this it is also you the youth who will suffer the most, it is you my sons and daughters who will face your children with no jobs and a collapsed economy," Kagwe stated.

"It is you who will face us your parents as you watch us get sickly and there is nothing you'll be able to do and worse still, you who will bury us. Not in small numbers but in very large numbers," he warned.

Kagwe has often advocated for consideration of facts in the war against the pandemic, warning against the spread of false information, and legal action against defiance to state directives.

A Photo ofHealth CS Mutahi Kagwe during his presser where he provided the updated information regarding the Covid-19 outbreak. He was speaking outside Afya House on March 18, 2020.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe speaking outside Afya House on March 18, 2020
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