A new Win Swiss Poll ranks the Kirinyaga governor Kenya’s best-performing county boss on hard metrics: revenue, audits, budgets and projects that actually get finished. For a generation that demands accountability, that is the scorecard that matters.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has been ranked Kenya’s best-performing governor in the latest Win Swiss Poll, released on Thursday, September 10, 2026. The ranking earned her the Champions of Progress Award from Swiss Poll International Research and Consultancy.
The ranking puts Kirinyaga at the centre of a national conversation about what devolution should look like, more than a decade after county governments came into being.
In a statement on X, Governor Waiguru said she was honoured by the award. She described it as recognition she shares “with the people of Kirinyaga and our dedicated team.”
Not a Popularity Contest
What sets this ranking apart is what it measures.
Beyond public satisfaction, the assessment scored county governments on:
- performance in the core devolved functions of agriculture, health, water and infrastructure;
- own-source revenue collection;
- budget absorption;
- audit compliance;
- public participation;
- the completion and impact of development projects.
In plain terms, it asked five questions of each county. Did it raise its own money? Did it spend its budget? Did it pass its audits? Did it consult its people? Did it actually finish what it started?
It is the kind of test a generation raised on “show me the receipts” has been demanding of its leaders. On that test, Kirinyaga came out on top.
Back-to-Back at Number One
The Win Swiss result is Waiguru’s second chart-topping ranking in under two months.
In July, the Politrack Africa Thematic Governors Performance Index 2022–2026 placed her first among all 47 governors, with a composite score of 61.5 per cent. That put her ahead of Kisii Governor Simba Arati at 58.5 per cent. The same index gave her a 68 per cent public satisfaction score, the highest recorded for any governor in the country.
Two separate assessments, released weeks apart, reached the same verdict. A pattern like that is hard to dismiss as coincidence.
Agriculture: From Farm Gate to Factory
Kirinyaga’s economy is built on the land. It produces Mwea’s famous pishori rice, coffee, tea and horticulture. Waiguru’s strategic bet has been to move farmers up the value chain, so that more of the money made from Kirinyaga’s produce stays in Kirinyaga.
The Politrack index credited the commissioning of the Sagana Agro-Industrial Park and the expansion of irrigation schemes as key drivers of her performance.
The park anchors the wider Sagana Industrial City. The development brings together three parts:
- an Export Processing Zone;
- a Special Economic Zone;
- the County Aggregation and Industrial Park.
The development is projected to create more than 10,000 direct jobs and 170,000 indirect jobs.
For young Kenyans, that is the real headline. The opportunities go beyond farming into processing, logistics, packaging, agribusiness and agro-tourism. These are the jobs of an economy that makes things, not just one that grows them.
Health, Water and Infrastructure That People Can Feel
Devolution is judged in the clinic queue and at the water tap, not in speeches.
In health, the county has upgraded the Kianyaga and Kimbimbi Level 4 hospitals, bringing better care closer to residents.
In water, the completion of major supply projects has expanded access across the county.
On infrastructure, road rehabilitation and the modernisation of key towns have strengthened links between farms, markets and investors.
The pattern across all three sectors is the same: projects that are finished, not just launched. That is one of the metrics the Win Swiss assessment weighed most heavily.
The Money Question: Revenue, Budgets and Audits
Counties rise or fall on financial discipline. The index’s focus on own-source revenue, budget absorption and audit compliance targets the weak points that have undone many county governments since 2013.
Kirinyaga’s record here has already drawn outside recognition. In December 2025, the county won Best County Supply Chain Management Function of the Year at the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) SPURS Excellence Awards. The evaluators found Kirinyaga to be the best county in complying with procurement rules and regulations.
The administration has also recovered more than 800 acres of illegally acquired public land. That land is being returned to community use for schools, hospitals, housing and agriculture.
A Leader Who Has Built Devolution From Both Ends
Few leaders understand devolution as thoroughly as Waiguru, because few have worked on it from both sides.
At national level, she served as Kenya’s first Cabinet Secretary for Devolution. Before that, she led the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) at the National Treasury. In both roles she helped design the systems that county governments now run on.
Among her fellow governors, she chaired the Council of Governors from 2022 to 2024 and spoke for all 47 counties in dealings with the national government.
At county level, she is now in her second term running Kirinyaga, turning that policy experience into delivery on the ground.
She has also invested in young people outside formal programmes. The Governor Anne Waiguru MinjiMinji Cup brings football competition to all 20 wards of the county and keeps hundreds of young people active, visible and engaged.
Kenya Is Taking Notes
Waiguru’s national profile is growing with every ranking.
In June 2026, a Politrack Africa survey of more than 154,000 registered voters asked which leader would do most to secure President William Ruto’s re-election as his running mate. Waiguru led with 30.9 per cent, ahead of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki at 19.3 per cent.
That standing rests on results that can be measured, not on noise. Kenya’s young majority will shape the 2027 election, and they have been clear about what they want: leaders who account for every shilling, finish what they start and let citizens have a say.
The question for 2027 is no longer who talks about delivery. It is who can prove it.
Governor Waiguru has now proven it twice in two months.