Scouts fallout over Mike Sonko coronation fete

Scout leaders from Nairobi County have now hit out at the Kenya Scouts Association following the association’s move to discredit the installation of Governor Mike Sonko as the Nairobi County Scout Patron.

On Tuesday, Sonko was formally adopted as a member and patron of the Kenya Scouts Association (KSA), in an elaborate event that took place at Nairobi Railways Grounds. The Kenya Scouts Association would, however on Wednesday, through a statement, distance itself from the coronation ceremony.

In the statement signed by former Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, who is the chair of the Kenya Scout Council, and Victor Radido, the chief commissioner and chair of the National Scout Board, KSA said the installation was illegal.

The association further revealed that it wrote to Sonko on September 10 advising him against proceeding with his installation since he was yet to meet the set criteria.

But in a tersely worded rejoinder, Scout leaders from Nairobi County have told off the association, accusing it of acting in bad faith and seeking to create confusion and conflict where there was none.

Nairobi county Scouts resource mobilisation consultant, Zablon Onguko said that the process to install Governor Sonko as the scouts’ patron officially began in 2018 and that the association was aware of the event contrary to their claims.

He also down played claims by KSA that the approval for installation of national and county leaders as volunteer leaders of the KSA was a preserve of the National Scout Board.

“We followed all the procedures carried out during an installation ceremony. We are not aware and there is no written procedure in the current constitution for the installation of a governor. The ceremony was carried out by a warranted scout commissioner,” said Onguko.

He also explained that Nairobi scouts’ leaders had also participated in the installation of former governor Evans Kidero without the involvement of the National Scouts board yet they were no reservations from the board then.

“Kisumu, Kilifi, Migori, Makueni and Mombasa governors have all been installed without the involvement of the National Scouts board. It is therefore a betrayal to the scouts’ honour by the board to mislead the public that Nairobi governor is ignorant of the procedure and that he had been installed as the National scouts’ patron,” added Onguko.

“That was clear bad politics meant to create conflict between the national patron who is President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Nairobi patron who is Governor Mike Sonko. We condemn such abuse of office.”

It now remains to be seen whether the decision to install Governor Mike Sonko as Nairobi County Scouts patron and the representative of the World Scouts Parliamentary Union at the Council of Governors will be upheld by the KSA national board.