In the rural areas, the Chief's Authority is still feared and respected

In one of my many field activities during this COVID-19 pandemic response, I had an opportunity of interacting with a chief (a grassroots administrator rank in national administration) who was so personal in his administrative work. I was part of a team conducting contact tracing for individuals who had traveled from abroad or had been in contact with COVID-19 suspects. We had this one contact whom the chief called to his office. The middle-aged gentleman seemed so frightened, wondering why he was being summoned by the chief to his office. I was in the company of my colleague in a GK vehicle, together with the chief. The Chief requested to alight at a distance of 1 km from his office so that the subject of our activity could not tell that he was being visited by the whole "government machinery."

The Chief entered his office through the back door while our GK vehicle sped off past the chief's office. The chief started his conversation with the gentleman by a prayer. He explained the purpose of his summons, then informed the contact that he was inviting officers two more officers. The gentleman felt at ease. I then arrived in the GK with my colleague, adorned in our trademark attire. We sensitized the gentleman on COVID-19, took his details, and requested him to sign up a self-quarantine form.

After 40 minutes of semi-formal discussion in the chief's office, the chief made another prayer as we parted ways. The situation was the same in other households where we went to trace the contacts at their homes. In all situations, the chief was playing the role of a diplomat, and a humble servant of the public. We were accepted in the households with fear and trembling, but we managed to cool our hosts. This was the only way that we could use to talk to them about COVID-19, the transmissions, and the preventive measures.

The encounter brought fond memories back in the mid-nineties when I was a teenager in primary school. We used to fear ad respect the authority of the chief in equal measure. The Moi Administration had put the provincial administration system at the core of central government (or national. It was a centralized system as opposed to the currently devolved system) administrtaion. The whole village could run whenever the name of the chief could be dropped. The position was a symbol of state power, and the officeholders were men and women of honor. They wielded so much power yet they did not blatantly abuse the same. They had some intrinsic sense of responsibility embedded in the system.