Governor snubs event over turf war with county boss

Officials of the regional government boycotted Madaraka Day celebrations in what appeared to be a supremacy battle between Governor Amason Kingi and County Commissioner Joseph Keter.

Save for a few county askaris, clad in official regalia, the governor, his deputy and the executive were nowhere to be found.

Speakers at the event, held at the Karisa Maitha Stadium, questioned why the county’s leadership failed to attend “the important occasion’’.

Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro told the crowd that text messages had been sent to members of the county assembly, asking them to boycott the event.

“If you decide to boycott the event, you should not stop others from attending. The county commissioner is not from Kilifi, so it is wrong for someone to boycott the celebrations in his own county just because of one person. We should change our attitudes,” he said.

The lawmaker wondered why county tents and chairs had not been provided for the residents.

“The tents and chairs you see being used during county functions are not the preserve of one person. They are public property meant to be used by the people of Kilifi and not the county government alone. They were bought using taxpayers’ money,” he added.

Mr Keter told the crowd that he had not asked for the tents and chairs from the county government because he was not used to borrowing and crying foul whenever something was not there. He told off the people who had been raising the issue of who is the boss of the county.

“The governor was elected to lead the people of this county. I am the leader of the national government functions in this region. So you should not be misled by those people who go around talking about who heads the county. There are only two leaders, the governor and I,” he said.

County Secretary Owen Baya later called the Nation and said the officials decided to boycott the celebrations after the commissioner had indicated that the governor was not to get any standing ovation since it was a national government function.

“He insisted that the governor should not be the last speaker. He was also insisting that the police should not salute the governor. The governor cannot be a subordinate since he is the elected leader of the people of Kilifi,” said Mr Baya.

The county secretary said Mr Keter was undermining the governor, which prompted the officials not to attend the function.

He said the county government plans to write a protest letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, calling for action to be taken against the commissioner.