We are not tribal, Governors Jackson Mandago, Alex Tolgos state

Uasin Gishu Governor (third left) Jackson Mandago and his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart Alex Tolgos. The two have come out to strongly defend the position they took over last week's Moi University saga stating that they were against delays in the process of appointing a substantive head at the institution. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Two Governors have come out to strongly defend the position they took over last week's Moi University saga stating that they were against delays in the process of appointing a substantive head at the institution.

Governors Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu) and his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart, Alex Tolgos also clarified that at no time did they declare that 'outsiders' were not wanted at the University.

"This is a misconception created which we wish to correct. At no time did we say or imply that we wanted our own to lead the University. We regret the fact that we have been branded tribalists, which we are not," they said in a joint statement to the media.

The governors reiterated their earlier stand that they stood for merit in the appointment of the next Moi University Vice Chancellor (VC) and demanded that the recruitment process be immediately made public to end the ongoing speculations.
They added that their presence at the University was to quell tensions that had swelled between the administration and employees who had staged a demonstration at the institution.
"We wish to state that we did not go to Moi University to do anything else but to quell a demonstration and confrontations that had already broken out. This is something Kenyans are not being told," they said.

The Governors said they were at Rivatex Company, owned by Moi University, on Tuesday to attend a function whose chief guest was Chinese Ambassador to Kenya H.E Lui Xianfa.

According to the governors, it was at the function that they learnt of the upheavals at the University's main campus in Kesses.

"We were both informed of the situation at Moi University and decided to rush alongside other leaders to address the issues. It is while there that we found an agitated workforce and community members who were demanding a substantive VC to address their long standing grievances," they added.

One of the main grievances was the planned decision by the University to outsource services at the institution and render hundreds of workers jobless.

"The lower cadre employees felt that they needed the plan shelved to allow a substantive VC to handle the issue. That was the reason they demanded Prof Isaac Kosgey be appointed as he had led in the interviews," said the Governors.

Mandago and Tolgos expressed concern that they had been vilified without a fair hearing adding it was unfair for government agencies including the Interior Ministry and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to accuse them of incitement.

"We have unfairly been branded tribalists when in actual sense, we have been asking that the Cabinet Secretary appoint the person who came first in the interview for VC to urgently address the many issues at the University, which a person in acting capacity would have limited liberty to do," they said.

The Governors challenged Cabinet Secretary, Dr Fred Matiang'i and the University Council to make public the outcome of the interviews conducted for the VC position at Moi University saying the delay to release the results was the cause of tensions.

"If the Judicial Service Commission was able to do interviews for the Country's Chief Justice openly and within two weeks we had a CJ nominee, what is so special with a VC? What is causing the delay if not boardroom schemes?" they queried.

The Governors further said they had nothing against Prof Laban Ayiro who was appointed acting VC at the institution, but questioned why he had been earlier appointed as an acting deputy VC and last week as acting VC, which they said pointed to a worsening leadership crisis at the institution.

"Many other junior staff have been acting in their jobs for so long, as long as 8 years. In addition, 10 senior management staff are on suspension. The question we are posing to CS Matiang'i is why create another leadership crisis on top of others?" they asked.

They challenged the government to hurriedly institute a probe into the mess at Moi University and engage all stakeholders in resolving the outstanding issues at the institution.

"Humiliating us and inciting the Kenyan public against us while threatening us with arrest is just a public relations exercise in futility. We need to get to the core of the problems at the University. The sooner we do this the better," said the governors.