IN-DEPTH: Labour’s Gillingham councillor Douglas Hamandishe

KentOnline’s Robert Boddy I Local Democracy Reporter 

ENGLAND: Cllr Douglas Hamandishe is one of the new in-take at the May elections, representing the ward of Gillingham North. He’s got plenty of strings to his bow, having been a mental health nurse for more than 20 years, a podcast host and influencer, and an advocate for how technology can make all our lives easier and better. Our local democracy reporter met him to find out more.

I met Cllr Hamandishe at his home just off Gillingham Green. We had originally been scheduled to meet at 10.30am but earlier that morning he rang me to ask if I could come earlier because he had a meeting at 11am and needed some extra time to prepare.

Most councillors have jobs or responsibilities outside of their work for their wards and the authority at large, but Douglas seems to me to be the busiest.

On top of his council duties, meetings, committees, and ward work, he’s also involved in utilising technology in healthcare – particularly mental health – and still finds time to host a podcast and be a digital influencer.

Alongside this he’s also a father, and his young sons’ books are scattered around his office as he says he always makes time, no matter what he’s doing, to spend time with him.

A key question seems to be: how does he find time to do it all? I’m living my purpose,” he says, “that makes it easier. I don’t believe any of these things are jobs really.

“They’re all moving me in the right direction to help as many people as possible. That’s it. It might just be that one has an NHS badge on it, or it might have a podcaster badge on it.

“They’re all different facets but they’re all moving in one direction, the same direction.”

Douglas was born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, into the middle of the Bush War.

His mother was a matron nurse who, after giving birth to Douglas in the turbulence of a war zone, went back to work the very next day, and his father was a headmaster at a missionary school.

In 1977, Douglas’s father travelled alone as a refugee to the UK. He came to Croydon in London and began working so he could earn enough to allow his family to follow.

At one point, I asked if he had always been a political person and Douglas told me that being a refugee means you’re always aware of politics.

“Politics has been the undercurrent in my family since we came over.

“Although I was only a child three or four years of age my parents were always glued to the television and figuring out how to navigate us through life when the policies were either for us or against us.”

Early life in the UK was complicated, Douglas was in a strange place where he didn’t speak the language and where he had come from was complicated.

“At the time Rhodesia wasn’t known that much, Zimbabwe got its independence in the ‘80s.

So, while growing up there was a lot of stuff that was emerging when I was trying to understand who I am as a person, my values, and my principles.

“When you’re in your formative stages of life seeing some of the worst things that human beings can do to each other, it gives you an outlook on life that’s quite unique.”

Douglas studied computer-aided engineering at the London South Bank University, but he said he found himself fascinated by the way people think and feel, so changed track and qualified as a mental health nurse in 2003.

But his prior learning in the digital space wasn’t wasted.

“When I qualified, medical records were just becoming digitised. So that engineering technology qualification now supported the clinical stuff.

“Engineering is all about how to do something in the easiest way. What’s the easiest way to tell the time, what’s the easiest way to get from A to B. Turn towards your health, what’s the easiest way to be healthier?

“Here’s an example, if you’ve got an iWatch, that’s medical grade and it tracks your heart rate. That’s up-to-date information all the time about what your heart is doing the whole time you’re wearing it.

“Who’s got more updated information about your physical health, you or your GP?

“And, on top of that, if you go to the GP, and you’re in the waiting room, your blood pressure will rise because you’re anxious. But when you go in and have your blood pressure measured, your GP might not account for that.

“They’ll see it and say ‘You’ve got high blood pressure, and if you’re a black male over 50 you’re more at risk for diabetes, I’m prescribing you this’.”

“But if they had all that contextual data, saw that your blood pressure had only gone up about 10 minutes before the appointment and the rest of the time it was at normal levels, they’d understand you better.”

I came into the interview knowing little about how technology might be applied to improve health in a way like this, but Douglas has a clear and concise way of speaking that makes everything clear. It’s no surprise he utilises this skill as well.

Since 2019 Douglas has hosted The Mic Drop Club, a podcast which seeks to inspire people by interviewing guests about their “mic drop moments”.

“For many years I’d been doing this buddy volunteering programme where you act as a kind of father-figure to inner-city kids, they come to see you at work and you show them what it’s like in the real world and things like that.

“As part of this, I wanted to get the kids into podcasting so that they can practise hearing their own voice and understanding how impactful it could be to the listener to hear other people’s experiences.

“A mic drop isn’t something good or bad, it’s a moment of clarity, that’s how we define it.

“So we ask ‘What was the mic drop moment in your life?’ and we’ve had athletes, mindfulness gurus, business people, all sorts.

“We’re sharing things that can help people live a better life to the fullest potential.

“That’s what I really love about politics. It is a mechanism where I can access instruments that can support people to get their mic drop moment.”

Some dream guests he’d like to have on to talk about their moments of clarity are Albert Einstein, Elon Musk, or Ed Milliband.

Douglas had moved to Medway in 2009 due to there being more of the sorts of shifts he was looking for in the area, then in 2016 he moved to where he lives now in Gillingham.

“I believe that if you’re going to go into politics you need to come to it when you have a certain lived experience.

“I grew up around politics most of my life, but I didn’t feel until I was probably in my 40s that I was ready.”

While out walking his dog, Douglas became friendly with then-councillor Andy Stamp, who also walked his own dog on the same route.

Through Andy, Douglas gradually became more involved with the local Labour group in Gillingham, handing out leaflets, knocking on doors, and listening to the local community.

But it still took a little bit of time before he was ready to stand himself.

“I needed to get the fortitude to do it and I needed people around me to see things in me that I couldn’t. It’s almost like having a baby, you’re never quite ready.

“I was saying ‘Yeah, I’m ready’. but I was putting it off. Then, gradually, all the excuses I was using started to disappear and then there was no excuse left.”

Douglas was elected in May and says the main thing he hadn’t expected was he’s always on call to help residents.

“To the constituent, the buck stops with you, so I can receive a call at any time of day about anything from dog fouling to domestic abuse. It’s so varied, it doesn’t come with a filter.

“You pick up the phone and you’re like ‘Wow, okay, I wasn’t ready for this conversation’, but you adapt.

“My partner is very supportive, I want that to be in the article, because I wouldn’t be able to do this without her support and the support of my family. I stand here by myself but only because they support me to do so.”

Despite the difficulties and the pressures, Douglas feels he’s adding value, and he says he does this because of his knowledge and experience.

“Politics has been the undercurrent in my family since we came over.”

“In politics, you need people who really know what they’re talking about. So if I’m talking to somebody about deprivation. I’ve lived through deprivation myself or talk to somebody about mental health. I’ve been working as a mental nurse for the last 20 years.

“I believe I’ve got a unique set of skills and experiences that I can bring to the committees I sit on, particularly the health and adult social care committee. I understand it and I know better than most what we’re trying to achieve.”

I ask Douglas if he has any long-term ambitions for politics, whether he’s got his eyes on being in the cabinet or leader, or even standing for parliament.

“I’ll be great if I could be in the cabinet one day, but we have a fantastic cabinet right now.

“I don’t see myself as leader of the council, that’s not my skill set, my skill set is born out of my experiences which is technology.

“I will not be somebody shifted in the position to fulfil a mandate that they are not competent at.”

Since technology is such a big part of Douglas’s life, I ask if he had no budget or constraints, what technology he would introduce to Medway.

“First and foremost, high-speed internet across the whole of Medway for free.

“Private companies are always looking for a cost-benefit analysis, how many customers will they get.

“But everyone needs to be able to access the internet because so much of the world is partially online now.

“If you need financial support, Universal Credit, council services, applying for jobs, meeting people, getting businesses started – it’s all online now, so I’d make sure no-one is missing out.

“That way more people can reach their full potential, which is what I’m all about.”