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Why were Embu MCAs trying to impeach you?
The MCAs were incited by politicians whose main aim is to access county resources and the power of the Governor’s office. The goal of these politicians is to get power and plunder county resources meant to serve the people.
But they have to wait till 2017 so that we can meet at the ballot. The whole drama slowed us down, particularly the public private partnerships that we had forged. But the investors are coming back, especially in coffee and macadamia farming.
At one point, your deputy (Dorothy Nditi) took over as governor. Did you reconcile?
Yes, we reconciled. It was a very unfortunate incident that slowed our development plan. She acted for two months. But we work together because our pledges to the people of Embu have to be fulfilled.
How ingrained is witchcraft in Embu?
Witchcraft is not common. The much I have heard about it is that there is a village called Ovarire where long ago, a judge sentenced a witch doctor for contempt of court. Not to be outdone, the witch doctor also sentenced the judge to his seat and the judge could not move until he revoked the sentence for contempt of court! I won’t be surprised if some of our politicians still visit that village.
When Embu County Assembly speaker, Justus Kariuki Mate was kidnapped, he blamed ‘political enemies’ for his misfortunes. Given that the two of you don’t really see eye-to-eye, was he suggesting you were responsible?
But the information that later emerged was that he was in a hideout having a good time. For me, that was an unfortunate non-issue that I can’t comment on. The whole thing was so shrouded in mystery that I would not like to delve into it.
Cecily Mbarire wants your job. Does that unsettle you?
I am not aware of any house or business she owns in Embu and I am not scared of her. The problem of Embu is just five or six politicians who want to make it appear as if we are not on track. The people are with me and that is what matters.
Why did you tell the electorate not to vote for her because she has no land in Embu (because she is married in Teso land), yet the law allows her to inherit land from her father?
I quoted a verse in the Bible, which states that once a woman is married, she can’t lay claim to any of her father’s property or wealth. But it was taken out of context. The Bible, in the book of Numbers 36:3 states: “And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.” She is free to come and vie for whatever post, but I won’t stop quoting the Bible.
Governors work in the grassroots among their people. Do they need 15 policemen to guard them really?
Security of governors should be on a case-to-case basis. Some governors are more predisposed to insecurity than others, hence the need for more security. We’ve heard of attempts on the lives of some governors, which makes it necessary that they have tighter security. I have only five officers attached to me and my home and I feel they are enough. I am a people person.
Many Senators are planning to run for the governor’s seat in the next elections. What are the prospects?
It is true that many senators want to run for governorship, but no governor is interested in the Senate. I wonder if they understood their roles during election. It is also unfortunate that the National Assembly drastically reduced the powers of the Senate, which ideally should be the Upper House.
This has led to dissatisfaction. The seat of governor is about control of county resources, hence its appeal because it gives the holder power to control these resources.
Embu County has been singled out by EACC (Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission) as among the most corrupt...
I’ve learnt not to comment on untruths. But to set the record straight, I would like to state that the functions that were used as a basis for the research were all national government functions, not county government functions. Take for instance traffic department, issuance of identity cards, Judiciary and issuance of land title deeds; these have never been county government functions. The survey was done in 2013 and Embu was not even among the top 10 most corrupt counties in Kenya.
We have taken measures to ensure that corruption does not exist in this county and we are ready to use every trick in the book to get rid of corruption. We have put suggestion boxes for the public to report cases of corruption and we have a hotline as well.
We are also dismantling cartels that want to reap where they didn’t sow. For the record, nobody would want to invest in a corrupt county. The fact that we have so many investment partners is a vindication.
What are your achievements so far?
Embu County has one of the best healthcare systems in Kenya, with an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and HDU (High Dependency Unit) at the Embu Level 4 Hospital. We have a renal unit with 10 dialysis machines; we’ve completed 12 former CDF (Constituency Development Fund) health facilities with 13 more in the works; Embu Hospital also has an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine and plans are underway to make it a teaching hospital.
Other counties have been coming to benchmark with us. When we came to office, only three out of 10 residents of Embu could access clean water, but now, seven out of 10 people have access to clean drinking water. We have initiated e-revenue collection for accountability and better revenue collection.
Embu County has also employed 483 Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers and provided water to primary and secondary schools.