Ex-Kericho Finance executive elected county assembly Speaker

Dr Patrick Mutai, a former County Executive Committee member for Finance, has been elected Speaker of the Kericho assembly.

He beat nine other candidates in the election overseen by assembly Clerk Martin Ipus.

Dr Mutai garnered 31 votes against former Speaker Dominic Rono’s 16 in the second round of voting.

Former Bureti MP Kiptergech Mutai, who was the first Speaker of the assembly, received 10 votes.

"I promise to unite the assembly members, rally them to play their oversight role, progress the legislative agenda to the benefit of the residents and make Kericho great," Dr Mutai said.

Senate Majority Leader Aron Cheruiyot and Governor Patrick Mutai, who attended the voting, said the assembly needs to support the executive to raise Sh1 billion in local revenue.

"There is a lot of work ahead of you, but we know you are a man of good character and one who is up to the task. It is important that you quickly bridge the divide as the competition is now water under the bridge," Mr Cheruiyot said.

He added: "There is a need to tighten the rules of oversight and ensure there are better laws to run the devolved government unit. There is an urgent need to reclaim the lost glory of Kericho County.”

MCAs, he said, should read and understand the dictates of President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic plan and support the executive to raise local revenue.

Governor Mutai said the new Speaker needs to guide the assembly with the highest level of maturity to take the legislative agenda and development to the next level.

"We had a lot of problems in the second two assemblies, but we want the current one to rise to the occasion,” he said.

“It cannot be that in this county hospitals are dysfunctional, that patients even at the maternity level are sharing beds."

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