Governors scoff at attempts to cow them over vote

President Uhuru Kenyatta has been unequivocal — Jubilee governors who support the push for a referendum must resign or change course.

However, some governors from Rift Valley have refused to back down and instead heightened their rhetoric with renewed calls for a vote. URP governors Isaac Ruto (Bomet), Paul Chepkwony (Kericho) and Cleophas Lagat (Nandi) have come out guns blazing in recent weeks.

The three are among the falling numbers of Jubilee governors who are still calling for a referendum after majority of their counterparts bowed to pressure from the party leadership and said they would no longer support calls for a national plebiscite.

Speaking during a recent visit to Kericho town, President Kenyatta, accompanied by Senate Majority leader Kithure Kindiki and Senate Devolution Committee chair Kipchumba Murkomen, asked Jubilee governors who support the referendum to change course or ship out.

“If you have your own plans, quit the Jubilee government and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate through a party you think suits you best,” said the President.

The Kericho Governor found himself isolated after MPs and Senators present criticised him for his unwavering support for a referendum.

However, Chepkwony did not broach the referendum subject during this meeting even as residents and ward representatives urged him to change his position on the matter.

Maintain stand

After the Kericho function, Chepkwony maintained that he would support calls for a referendum while speaking at a different forum in the town.

However, the fact that he chose to state his stand at a different venue echoes with the growing pressure he is under from the Jubilee leadership.

“The referendum calls did not begin yesterday, it has been on the cards for a while,” Chepkwony said.

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, who was conspicuously missing from the Kericho function, has also upped the tempo even in the face of growing pressure from Jubilee and has announced plans to start collecting signatures to push for a people’s petition that bypasses Parliament in which Jubilee has the majority.

Ruto said the drive to collect six million signatures would be launched this week in presence of all governors who back the referendum.

Ruto, who has been steadfast in his course to push for a referendum backed by governors, dubbed ‘Pesa Mashinani’ (money to the grassroots), has maintained that ‘threats’ and ‘intimidation’ from Jubilee will not deter governors from advocating for a plebiscite that will increase the statutory allocations to counties to 45 per cent.

“Those threats do not have a place in a democratic society where people are free to choose how they wish to vote,” said Ruto.

He maintained that he and other governors supporting the plebiscite would not resign from Jubilee, and instead dared the coalition to kick them out.

“We are not about to resign, we are not going anywhere soon as we have a constitutional right like any other Kenyan to vote the way we want. We should not be threatened,” Ruto warned.

Marshall support

To up the ante in the Rift Valley, Nandi governor Langat marshalled the support of his ward representatives and declared his support for Council of Governors’ push for referendum.

While Ruto and Chepkwony have encountered hostility from MCAs from their respective counties, Lagat has seemingly whipped the leadership of the Assembly and MCAs to support the calls to increase resources to counties.

Lagat, who declared support for Jubilee leaders President Uhuru and his Deputy William Ruto, brushed off the calls for governors to resign from the ruling coalition or toe the line.

“The referendum is not about the President or his deputy; neither is it meant to sabotage the Government. It is geared towards delivering pledges we made to Kenyans,” he said.

Lagat, who sits in the Council of Governors’ secretariat overseeing the referendum push, said he consulted the public and all stakeholders prior to taking a position on the referendum issue, and added that he was not afraid of the threats from the Jubilee leadership.

A local leader, Raymond Lagar, said the President’s remarks had energised the governors’ push for a referendum.

“The President’s remarks has only served to energise the governors to soldier on and now they are taking another step .... they are collecting signatures,” said Langar.

Former Sotik MP Anthony Kimetto says it was unfortunate that the Government had resorted to trying to coerce governors to abandon the calls for a referendum.

“It is very unfortunate that the Government is becoming desperate in its effort to stop the referendum and is resorting to threats,” said Kimetto. He said governors’ first loyalty is to the electorate of the devolve units of government.

Stories by Patrick Kibet Rono, Gilbert Kimutai and Nikko Tanui.