Nyeri governor, deputy say they are working in harmony

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga and his deputy Caroline Karugu have they are working in unity and accused politicians eyeing the top county seat in the 2022 election of a plot to create a wedge between them.

Mr Kahiga and Dr Karugu on Monday issued a statement dispelling fears of a falling-out between them as they sought to tame rumours from bloggers who in the morning claimed that they had engaged in physical fight.

They chaired a cabinet meeting in the morning and later met with top executives from Alparama Tanneries led by Managing Director Sambasiva Rao who are seeking to partner with the county to set up a leather industry.

They also posed for photos and shook hands to demonstrate their unity.

FOCUSED

“We are focused on serving Nyeri people until 2022 and there is nothing anybody can do. We are going to be in office as long as we are here and God wishes,” Governor Kahiga said.

He added: “No amount of rumour mongering will create a wedge between me and the deputy governor. Anybody wishing us ill is just having wishful thinking.”

On her part, Dr Karugu said that she did not take up a job in the county government with the intention to quit, noting that she is focused on elevating the economic status of Nyeri.

“We have closed our ears to those things that are being said. It would be foolhardy for me to have left what I was doing with an intention to reign,” she said.

SABOTAGE DEVELOPMENT

The governor said that those questioning his legitimacy and that of his deputy are plotting to sabotage the county’s development agenda.

He claimed that some prominent business people opposed to his government snubbed a dinner hosted by the county government last week.

Dr Karugu was appointed to the deputy’s position in May 2018 to take over from Mr Kahiga who had ascended to the top following the death of Governor Wahome Gakuru in November 2017.

“There people who still feel that we do not qualify to be where we are given the circumstances under which we are governor and deputy governor. Those that thought that this was passing cloud have had to think twice,” the governor said.

Mr Kahiga and his deputy said that the rumours of a falling-out is a deliberate creation of politicians whom he claimed are paying bloggers with the aim of shifting the county’s focus to unnecessary politics.

“We are taking Nyeri on the wrong route. I personally appointed Dr Karugu as my deputy because I knew she would serve the people of Nyeri,” he said.