Natembeya links Gachagua to feud with his deputy

Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has blamed Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for the frosty relationship with Deputy Governor Philomena Kapkory.

Mr Natembeya appeared Tuesday before the Senate Devolution Committee in Nairobi to respond to allegations raised by Kapkory over security threats that have made her to stay away from the county for the last two months.

The governor told the committee chaired by Marsabit Senator Mohammed Chute that he had been working well with his deputy but differed after a Western Kenya leaders' meeting at State Lodge Kakamega in August.

Late invitation

"During the Western leaders' meeting held at State Lodge Kakamega in August, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said that those leaders who were not present were not with the government. I did not attend that meeting since I got the invitation late and had travelled to Nairobi," he said.

Natembeya told the committee that he had taken his son to school in Nairobi and Kapkory attended the meeting, after which she became hostile to him.

He admitted that the deputy governor has not been seen in the county since that time and shortly after, he received a letter from Gachagua's office informing him that Kapkory will be part of a team of five governors that will attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The governor said he was surprised when he was asked to facilitate his deputy to accompany the President to New York for a United Nations meeting that he felt did not have a direct value to the county residents after which he declined to give out county funds for the trip.

The governor denied having a hand in the security threats against the deputy governor.

Natembeya said that he has not travelled outside the country since he was elected neither have the County Executive Committee Members, unlike the deputy governor who has travelled to Tanzania, South Africa and the US.

The committee said that Trans Nzoia is a cosmopolitan county and it was important that the governor and his deputy resolve their differences and work for the good of the people who elected them jointly.