A two-month long frosty relationship between Kericho Governor Erick Mutai and his Deputy Fred Kirui has come to an abrupt end, a day before President William Ruto is hosted at the Kericho Green Stadium for a thanksgiving prayer rally, the first of its kind in the South Rift region since he assumed office.
For the first time since their first week in office, Dr Mutai and Mr Kirui sat at a closed door meeting at the Governor’s office and later hugged and posed for photos on Saturday afternoon.
After the meeting, Mr Kirui tendered his public apology to the people of Kericho county for his recent outbursts and said he was committed and contended in serving as a Deputy Governor under Dr Mutai.
“I wish to apologize to the people of Kericho for bringing out the disagreements to the public domain instead of sitting down to hammer them out,” said Mr Kirui said.
“I am committed to serve in my position as a Deputy Governor and I will serve under him [Dr Mutai] as an honest and trustworthy assistant. Moving forward we will bring our strengths out. I can assure you that we are united.”
Senate Majority leader and Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot attended the meeting, after which the leaders and clergymen toured the stadium where the prayers will be held on Sunday.
The making up followed an intervention by a team of interdenominational clergymen from the region led by Reverend Joyce Tonui of the Kericho Emmanuel African Gospel Church (AGC) – who attended the meeting at the Governor’s office.
The evangelical team also included Bishop Ernest Ngeno of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), John Koskei of Methodist Church Kenya and Patrick Cheruiyot of the Kericho Worship Centre.
The clergymen are the ones who will be leading the thanksgiving prayer rally at the stadium, which will mark President Ruto’s first tour of the region after succeeding his former boss President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, the Governor and his Deputy said they would not betray the voters of Kericho county who overwhelmingly voted for them in the last general election.
Mr Kirui said “It might have been God’s wish for the issue to come out so that it strengthens our unity. I am asking the people to pray for us and we are grateful for their support.”
Dr Mutai on his part said the issue had been over-politicized noting that he had, behind the scenes, been engaging deputy on various issues touching on development in the county.
“We have not really had a problem, it was blown out of proportion and people capitalized on it to create a division. It is not possible to agree all the time, but we agree to disagree on issues. We are united as you can see,” Dr Mutai said.
“The Deputy Governor and I have never lost sight of what brought us together, but I can assure you we are mature enough as leaders and we have an interest to push the development agenda for Kericho,” Dr Mutai said.
He said he will be engaging with his deputy on various issues, noting that there were people who were fuelling rifts for political expediency much to the detriment of the people of Kericho county.
“I can assure you that we have a good and brilliant Deputy Governor who is a water engineer and his input on the sector will clearly be seen in the days ahead as we unbundle our development agenda,” Dr Mutai said.
Mr Kirui claimed recently that Dr Mutai had reneged on a 60-40 power sharing deal clinched ahead of the April 14, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party primaries when they came together to beat former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter.
Dr Mutai and Mr Kirui were each seeking the UDA party ticket for the gubernatorial race before they hammered a deal to run as a team – with Mr Kirui as a running mate.
Senate Majority leader and Kericho Senator Aron Cheruiyot, former Roads Minister Franklin Bett, gospel singer Pastor Joel Kimetto and former National Transport Authority (NTSA) director Mr Job Chirchir are some of the leaders who were involved in midwifing the unexpected political marriage between the Governor and his Deputy.
The Deputy Governor had claimed that he did not have an input in the nomination of CECs whose names have been forwarded to the County Assembly for vetting.
“In total disregard to the pre-election agreement, my negotiated share of the cabinet slots in the list that has been submitted to the County Assembly for vetting is not reflected. I saw the list in the media like other members of the public,” said Mr Kirui.
