Fernandes Barasa, the CEO of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited(Ketraco) spoke to the Nairobian about his family, marriage, why his children go to public schools, and why a degree doesn’t make one a good employee.
You are a CEO and a Ph.D. Your wife Janet is a Ph.D. Your son was one of the top KCPE performers countrywide. In such a family, what type of discussions do you have at the dinner table?
(Laughs heartily) A normal conversation like any other family. We actually speak Luhya when in the house. We don’t discuss work. My sons, my wife, and I support different football teams so the temperature in the house during football matches sometimes rises, and the boys talk to me in a way they would their age mates, forgetting I am their father! One look from me, and they go back to arguing with respect, including throwing in a few kind words for my team. (Sighs) It gets beaten most days.
So when you argue with your wife, another PhD holder, does one harsh look from you also silence her?
No, we got married as husband and wife, not PhD to PhD, but I can assure you, a harsh look from me can’t silence my wife, but one look from her can silence me. (Laughs) She is tough and never comes to an argument unprepared. She hits me with so many facts, mpaka zile makosa za kitambo, I end up apologising, for the sake of peace, even if I am sure I am not to blame. (Prolonged laugh).
Peace is important in a marriage. If your wife can’t give you peace, even if she stays in Australia and you are in Nairobi, my brother, you can’t focus at work.
Being a bus driver was your ambition as a child, but most children grow up wishing to pursue careers in academia, medicine, engineering…
I had never gone beyond the boundaries of our village and there was only one bus plying the route so in the eyes of a young boy, who walked a total of 10 kilometers daily to school, being a bus driver was the best thing I could aspire to be because it means I would not have to walk again….