Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai and the deputy governor Fred Kirui had a bitter exchange of words publicly during the county’s Madaraka Day fete on Thursday, June 1.
Governor Mutai confronted the DG over what he called preaching ‘petty’ politics after Kirui complained over disrespect and lack of adequate resources to enable him to traverse the county, in his address.
“If you go around the whole world discussing some things, it will not help us or bring food to the table. What brings food to the table is what we can do for these people,” Mutai told off his deputy amidst cheers from the public.
“We may have our own internal issues but the best way to do it is to come to the office and discuss the issues. Let’s mature so that we rise above petty politics.” He added.
The deputy governor had blamed Kericho county leadership for failing to give him enough fuel, saying he had to spend his own money to fuel his vehicle.
“Kwa hio serikali, mimi niko tu hapo nikiwa nimeketi , kuenda kule Itare, nilienda na mafuta yangu…I want to work for citizens.”
Kirui further mentioned a pre-election agreement between them that led to him stepping down in favor of Mutai. As such, he called on the governor to accord him respect.
“The Governor is here, he knows what we talked about when I was seeking the gubernatorial seat until I stepped down and joined him …he is the Governor and I’m the deputy,” he stated.
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“As I’m standing here, there are people who supported me and those who supported the Governor. All of us should work together kwa sababu hii ni serikali inaitwa coalition government. In a coalition government, there must be something called respect; I respect the Governor…Governor please also respect me na maneno mingi itaisha, staki maneno mingi.” DG Kirui added.
In a quick rejoinder, Governor Mutai sneered at his deputy’s remarks opining that he should not have brought up such issues publicly.
He also mocked Kirui’s claims of not being provided with fuel, noting that the DGr had two vehicles compared to him who owned only one.
Nonetheless, he suggested that the county would consider buying another car for Kirui and increase his fuel allowance.
“The county government is bigger than me or the deputy governor or any person. Any agreement made by politicians remains an agreement by politicians. The biggest agreement is the agreement with the people,” he advised.
“We can double the fuel from 150 to 300…what am saying is that you must not bring things that we do out there and discuss them here. It makes us look stupid if we as leaders come to complain instead of telling people the way forward.” Added the Kericho County boss.
