Assembly asks Ottichilo to take charge of county, avoid blame games

Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo addressing journalists in his Mbale office on Oct 23, 2017. [Eric Lungai, Standard]

The rift between Members of the County Assembly and Governor Wilber Ottichilo (pictured) appears to be widening after the MCAs asked him to take charge of the county.

Reading a joint resolve of the House yesterday, Deputy Speaker Nixon Butiya said Dr Ottichilo was undermining the authority and mandate despite them having done everything to facilitate smooth operations of the county executive.

“The assembly wishes to remind the governor to take charge of the county. He was given express mandate by voters to be the county boss. He should not delegate such a critical mandate to wheeler-dealers. The hawk-eyed assembly will never relent in its oversight role,” Mr Butiya said.

He rejected Ottichilo’s claims that the county assembly was interfering with operations of the executive, saying they had not overstepped their mandate but were simply performing their duties.

“We ask the governor to stop passing the buck and deliver the promises he made to the people. We are doing our bit, let him do his,” said Butiya.

Ottichilo had accused the county assembly of frustrating his efforts to deliver services to county residents after the MCAs impeached three of his executives for alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

“In the last one month, our relationship has not been good. In April we went for bonding in Nairobi but since we came back, they have taken a different route. They want to implement, yet their work is oversight. They want to micromanage the executive, which is unprocedural,” Ottichilo said.