Namwamba faults county chief, governor denies claim

Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has been accused by ODM Secretary-General Ababu Namwamba of dividing residents along tribal lines with an eye on the 2017 election.

But Mr Ojaamong denied the claims, saying they were meant to tarnish his name.

Mr Namwamba said the governor had been moving around dividing the Luhya and Tesos.

The Budalangi MP said Mr Ojaamong was using tribalism as a ladder to gain popularity in the next election, a move he noted would create animosity and divisive politics.

Mr Ojaamong however said the county has been cohesive since independence and called on political aspirants to sell their manifestos “instead of soiling other people’s names”.

“You should not accept to be divided along tribal lines because you will start fighting and killing each other for no reason like in other counties,” Mr Namwamba said.

He was speaking at Okilidu village in Teso sub-county where a 94-year-old man and his wife, 70, were burnt to death in their house on Sunday night.

The governor said in his office: “I appeal to locals to continue living in peace and harmony and shun tribal politics meant to divide them.”

Mr Namwamba also accused the county administration of wasting resources by taking over 150 delegates to the Meru devolution conference instead of buying fire fighting equipment.

“Imagine a county with trailers all over yet we don’t have a fire fighting engine. What happens if we have a fire disaster? Let the county administration puts its priorities right,” he said.

But Mr Ojaamong said the county government was in the process of procuring modern fire fighting equipment.

“Don’t blame the county that much. Very soon we are going to have two modern fire fighting machines,” he said adding that there was no cause for alarm.