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| Hon. Peter Kanang Gwom. Source: Gwom's Facebook Picture Library |
A month earlier, a stray thought
had crossed my mind: What happens if the Commissioner is taken away? It was not
based on any rumour I had heard—just a quiet premonition that wandered in
uninvited. Then, it came to pass. In a major cabinet reshuffle by Governor
Caleb Mutfwang's administration, Honourable Gwom was moved to the Ministry of
Lands, Survey and Town Planning.
Why was I fearful? Over the
years, we have had a series of commissioners, each with their own
idiosyncrasies. Some were difficult to work with; we often prayed for their
departure—whether through reshuffle or resignation. We rarely cared when a bad
commissioner left. But this time, the fear was different.
My second concern stemmed from
the wealth of experience Honourable Gwom had accumulated during his three years
at the Ministry of Environment. In that time, he attended conferences from Cape
to Cairo, Somalia to Gambia, and everywhere in between. He also initiated and
completed beautiful projects. This built for him a towering expertise in environmental
matters. His transfer meant he was taking that expertise away from a ministry
that needed it one hundred percent, to one that required very little of it. To
my human eyes, this looked like a loss.
In his farewell speech, the
Commissioner cited moments when he had wanted one thing, but something else
came his way. Eventually, he said, he came to understand that what came was
actually in his best interest. He remarked that humans often look at events
"with human eyes," missing the divine motive behind them. That phrase
stayed with me.
Reflecting on this, I recalled
that a former long-serving Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Environment—who had also been moved to Commerce—was now heading to the same
Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning. This coincidence suggests that
perhaps the Ministry of Lands has pressing issues that require people with
environmental insight. What seemed like a subtraction may, in fact, be a
strategic redeployment. But we could not see it—not with human eyes.
Still, no experience gained is
ever wasted while you are alive. The greatest challenge our planet faces today
is the threat of environmental doom, unless we act to reverse or build
resilience to climate change. That is why we must build strong momentum in this
fight—and it is a fight for everyone, whether in government or outside it.
Governments design policies; the private sector cooperates to achieve goals.
Early in his tenure at the Ministry of Environment, Honourable Gwom was quoted
as saying there was too much redundancy and that he wanted to see things
happen. That passion defines his approach to any role. His drive suggests that
even outside government, his experience could still be put to meaningful use.
Perhaps the real weakness is not
in what we see, but in our assumption that what we see is all there is. You
never know when the tide of life is leading you to a destination that will
benefit you and humanity. Often, you gain experience without immediately seeing
the full picture—but eventually, the pieces fall into place. The divine motive,
hidden from human eyes, slowly reveals itself.
And when it does, you realise:
you were never really losing. You were being repositioned
