As he prepares to host President Uhuru Kenyatta in Bungoma County in the coming days, Governor Ken Lusaka knows the spotlight will be on him as he drives a strong development agenda in the region.
Lusaka confirmed to The Standard on Sunday the President will be visiting the county to hand over a charter to Kibabii University College, elevating it from a branch of the Kakamega based Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) to a fully-fledged university of its own.
“I can confirm the President is coming to elevate Kibabii to full university status. The exact date is to be conveyed by State House within days,” said Lusaka. Lusaka was the first governor to host the President for a home-coming fete in May 2014 at Mapera in Kimilili Constituency. His recent elevation as New Ford-Kenya (NFK) party leader has further boosted his political significance to the ruling coalition.
Lusaka’s takeover of NFK, with full blessings of former party leader Eugene Wamalwa, recently confirmed by Parliament as Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation, was fast-tracked but planned with precision. With Wamalwa out of politics in the meantime, and with former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi focused on his second stab at the Presidency in 2017, Lusaka remains President Kenyatta’s lead foot soldier in the region. The governor has been asking the region’s leaders to support the Jubilee coalition in 2017, a stand which pits him against other key political leaders routing for a Luhya leader to go for the presidency.
Lusaka, in an interview with The Standard on Sunday, noted that attacks against him were partly because of his strong association with the Jubilee administration, feelings equally expressed by his party Secretary General Colonel (rtd) Benjamin Mwema. “I know some attacks are meant to settle political scores, but as leaders, let’s set aside our differences and serve those who elected us,” said the governor.
Mwema said the party would stand with Lusaka against unwarranted attacks and that leaders, especially from his Western backyard, should divorce politics from development.
But Bungoma County Women Representative Dr Reginalda Wanyonyi (NFK) wants Lusaka to involve all leaders on development matters as the governor and on political matters as the NFK party leader. “We are ready to work with him but some of us feel left out because he rarely consults us,” said Reginalda.
