Supremacy battles as Oparanya, Kuti fall out with their deputies

The governors of Isiolo and Kakamega have fallen out with their deputies, leading to supremacy battles in the regions.

In Isiolo, Deputy Governor Abdi Issa, whose rift with Governor Mohamed Kuti started in 2018 after he was stripped of his powers as the Health executive, said his boss had refused to respond to several concerns he had previously raised with him, including not being invited to Cabinet meetings and withdrawal of his office budget.

But Governor Kuti said his deputy hardly reports to work and had not attended a single Cabinet meeting in the past one year despite being invited for the sessions.

The two leaders last shared a podium on July 7, 2018 when they commissioned Sh20 million mobility carts for the disabled by Partners for Care, in collaboration with the county government at Almasi School.

Office partly demolished

The disgruntled deputy governor lamented that the county, in the guise of undertaking renovations, had his office partly demolished, leaving him with no physical place to operate from.

He said he was not being involved in running of the government and was left out whenever the county entered into agreements with various development partners.

During a recent interview with the Nation, Dr Issa claimed that he is hardly invited to Cabinet meetings for allegedly questioning the infrequency of the forums.

“He has been making noise instead of coming to say what his problem is so that we hear him out and if there are any issues, we iron them out,” Governor Kuti said.

Dr Issa said the redirection to the governor’s office of Sh25 million, which had originally been allocated to him, had halted key office operations and made him unable to pay staff allowances.

Funds withdrawn

The county boss said the funds were withdrawn over the deputy’s poor performance. 

“I had allocated him the funds hoping he would have performed better but he did not. His office is under mine and there is no legal provision for a deputy governor’s budget.”

Last year,  the DG’s pact with five MPs from the county opposing an amended legal notice that allows adjudication in townships and settlements but excludes Resort City, Lapsset Corridor, military and security installations, national reserves and holding grounds further worsened his relationship with Dr Kuti.

Reshuffled Cabinet

In Kakamega, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya last week reshuffled his Cabinet and stripped his deputy, Prof Philip Kutima, of the Agriculture docket.

Prof Kutima has been touted as a possible successor of Governor Oparanya. He replaced the deputy with Mrs Rachael Okumu, who held the health docket and had been accused by nurses’ union officials of high-handedness.

Two weeks ago, the county chief warned that he had received intelligence reports of the activities of some his county executives indicating they were taking advantage of his absence to engage in suspect deals.

Mr Oparanya promised to take drastic action against those involved, saying they were giving his administration a bad image.

He said he was disappointed that while he was engaged in national duties, his team was busy pursuing personal interests.

The county chief said some of his executives had failed to live up to expectations.