A fallout between Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich and his deputy, Prof Grace Cheserek, has once again played out publicly for the second time in less than four months.
The two leaders almost engaged in a fistfight during an empowerment event in Kapyego on Sunday evening, just a week after Prof Cheserek announced she would not be Rotich’s running mate in the 2027 General Election.
During the Sunday clash in Kapyego, Cheserek’s was forced to cut short her speech after she was jeered when she attempted to grab the governor's microphone.
A visibly furious Rotich told off his deputy, and accused her of acting in a childish manner.
He further claimed that the professor of Environmental Science was all bark and no bite.
“I will continue to speak out. I will say everything,” Prof Cheserek was heard saying in a video clip that went viral on social media.
A day before the standoff in Kapyego, the governor had told locals in Marakwet West sub-county to help him identify a suitable running mate after his relationship with Cheserek turned sour.
“You, the people of Marakwet West, gave me a deputy in the last election and as you can see, our working relationship is worsening. I want you, this time, to identify for me someone that I can work with harmoniously,” Rotich said.
When she unsuccessfully attempted to grab a microphone from the governor in a bid to complete her speech during the event in Kapyego, Rotich told his deputy: “Go sit down and stop being childish. (Do) you want to ruin somebody’s celebration? You are now becoming foolish.”
The friction between the leaders came to light three months ago during an empowerment event in Tot, Marakwet East, when Cheserek lamented about what she termed as a casual introduction by her boss. She went on to warn that she should not be demeaned.
Rotich has, however, declined to respond to his deputy. During the public clash in Tot three months ago, the governor said he did not demean Cheserek. “I had not reached the level (during the programme) to introduce you (Prof Cheserek) properly,” he said.
Last Saturday, Cheserek announced that she would not be Rotich’s running mate in the 2027 elections, signalling a worsening of their frosty relations.
“I want to divorce the political relationship with Governor Rotich today officially,” said Cheserek at a meeting in Kapkoross, Marakwet West sub-county.
The deputy governor added: “I will no longer be seeking to be elected as a deputy governor again next year. I want to tell him (Governor Rotich) to look for his deputy governor when he seeks to defend his position in 2027. It will not be me.”
“Secondly, I want you to give me the political direction to take in 2027. I have a lot of knowledge and expertise; why can’t I use them to serve our people better?” she posed.
On August 21, Prof Cheserek described the friction as a tragedy and claimed that she had been neglected and that her office had been undermined not just by his governor but also by county executives.
She said her efforts to secure the authority to rein in errant and underperforming county officials were being frustrated.
“I want my governor to give me the space to assist him to crack the whip on underperforming county executive committee members (CECMs). I want him to allow me to identify projects that have not been done to the expected standard unless he has a problem. You see, if I’m correcting an executive and the governor is protecting them, it means he has an interest, and this comes to a conflict of interest,” said the deputy governor.
She further claim that: “The tragedy with Elgeyo Marakwet is interesting because my governor was a deputy governor and he also felt that he was being neglected by his former boss (Alex Tolgos) and he has continued this neglect. Any governor who should not work well with their deputies should not be re-elected.”
Cheserek argued that if a governor couldn’t manage a deputy, it would be difficult for them to run a county.
She suggested management courses at the Kenya School of Government for governors with frosty relationships with their deputies, saying it was a social problem that required education.
“Let us elect people with knowledge and experience in managing billions of public funds to be governors,” she said.
In July, a decision to change the venue of this year’s Mashujaa Day from Kamariny to Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret exacerbated the fallout between Governor Rotich and Cheserek. Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi counties co-hosted the event.
This is after Cheserek declared her support for the planned parallel Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kamariny, while her boss was calling for respect for the President’s decision to hold the fete in Uasin Gishu.
Cheserek apologised to Elgeyo Marakwet residents for the sudden change in venue for the Mashujaa Day national celebrations.
“I want to say sorry to the people of Elgeyo Marakwet. The change of venue saddens us. I’m among those people who have declared that if the venue is shifted to Uasin Gishu, we will have a parallel Mashujaa Day at Kamariny Stadium,” the Deputy Governor said.
The governor was at pains to explain the sudden change of venue.
When she was nominated by Rotich as his preferred running mate in the run-up to the 2022 General Election, Cheserek, who comes from Marakwet West sub-county, was a little-known academician and administrator. Rotich, on the other hand, comes from Keiyo North sub-county.
Cheserek had previously served as the head of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Moi University and had also worked for non-governmental organisations as an environmental science consultant.
