A storm has erupted among Azimio leaders in Kakamega County following a letter from Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna.
The letter is said to have purported to sanction changes to the majority leader seat in the county Assembly.
In his letter, the ODM party removed Philip Maina Ondago as the majority leader and replaced him with Geofrey Ondiro Obonyo.
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa termed the move as a political witch hunt and a scheme of some people to destabilize the leadership of Kakamega County.
“We are disappointed that people would come to interfere with the running of Kakamega County just because they are interested in supporting other candidates. We will not accept it; if one wants the governor’s seat, they should wait for 2027,” Barasa said.
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Kakamega Governor Calls the Move a Political Hunt
He however, expressed discontent with the letter, accusing Sifuna of creating turmoil in the county assembly leadership without prior consultation with him.
“One of the things that has come out very clearly is that there is no evidence of a meeting of Azimio County Assembly members to deliberate on the subject matter of making changes in the office of the majority leader,” the County Boss said.
The governor further asked Sifuna to provide evidence on who notified the Azimio members of the alleged meeting because it was said that the majority whip was not in the picture of the meeting.
“We want the secretary General to provide the resolutions, the attendance list of members who voted to remove the MCA of Marama Central and the grounds of removing the leader,” Barasa said.
“I have urged the Speaker to ignore the directive until such a time when it will be clear to the County leadership that a decision of such magnitude is reached.”
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Azimio MCAS Hitting on Sifuna
The MCAs advised Sifuna to adhere to the legal requirements, which dictate that any coalition-coordinated meeting should include the ODM chairperson, the Chief Whip and should be attended by the Assembly leaders.
They called upon the Azimio leadership to convene a meeting to clarify the actions of the majority leader and to conduct an investigation, followed by a ruling based on the findings.
“We want to call onto Azimio Leader Raila Odinga that he should now start to put his feet down because people want to capitalize on his AU engagement to start messing up the party and coalition,” one of the MCAs told the press.
