Leaders divided down the middle over Governor Samuel Tunai's 'poor' governance

Operations in Narok town were yesterday paralysed as camps supporting and opposing Governor Samuel Tunai held two parallel meetings.

The county’s leadership was divided down the middle, with Mr Tunai leading his troops at the county headquarters while those opposed to him, led by Senator Stephen Ntutu, meeting at Mashiariani Grounds less than two kilometres away from the first meeting.

Tunai led his deputy Evelyn Aruasa, MPs Ken Kiloku (Narok East), Gideon Konchella (Kilgoris), Soipan Kudate (Woman Rep) and several MCAs in declaring that he was legally in office.

He said residents gave him the mandate to run the county and he would therefore not agree to leaders, whom he described as self-seekers, to dictate to him how to run the county.

However, those opposed to Tunai gave him 21 days to address questions that have been raised regarding the use of county funds or else they would begin a process to eject him from office.

Led by Senator Ntutu, MPs Moitalel ole Kenta (Narok North), Patrick Ntutu (Narok West), Korei Lemein (Narok South) and Johana Ngeno (Emurwa Dikirr), local leaders Julius Sunkuli, Andrew Sunkuli and Hassan Kamwao said the governor had failed to offer leadership and instead resorted to a one-man show.

MISCHIEVOUS AGENDA

“This county belongs to all of us and we shall not accept any individual running it as if it were personal property. Nothing seems to be going on,” Mr Ntutu said.

Tunai faulted his opponents for refusing to work with him, saying they had turned down “invitations to development consultative meetings".

He said his opponents had a mischievous political agenda and wanted to distract him from delivering on his campaign promises.

“As leaders, we must desist from careless talk that can instigate tribal animosities. There is currently no leadership vacuum and these leaders should wait for their turn. I am here to stay and will not be deterred by empty politicking,” he said.

The senator, however, said there was skewed distribution of job opportunities in the county and accused the governor of trying to whip up a tribal card as a way of silencing them.

Ntutu said while MPs had completed several projects, the governor had only been talking about launching projects.

He threatened to take the county government the Makueni way should the governor not yield to the disgruntled leaders' demands.

“This should be made very clear that this is not about one community or the other but rather about the welfare of our county. It is about interrogating how our funds are being utilised,” he said.

VESTED INTERESTS

Mr Kenta said the meeting had been convened because it was not clear how revenue collected in the Maasai Mara was being utilised.

The MPs threatened to ground the county’s operations if the governor failed to be transparent and accountable.

“Revenue collection is totally compromised because we know the governor has an interest in the whole process,” Kenta said.

But Tunai dismissed the claims, saying the Auditor General had not raised queries about the county’s revenue collection or expenditure.