Issac Ruto-Governor,Bomet County
Bomet county governor’s tenure at the helm of the Council of Governors(CoG) is set to come to an end today.Issac Ruto who has been an open critic and a fierce one for that matter of the Jubilee Administration will not be seeking to renew his term.
Todays election which will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi will be contested by three governors namely;Peter Munya(Meru),Wycliff Oparanya(Kakamega) and Salim Mvurya(Kwale).Althought there speculations that party politics are going to determine who will succeed Governor Issac Ruto as the new CoG chair,the governors insist that the polls are going to be a non-partisan affair.Sources say that the governors are not likely to do an election but rather reach a consensus.
The CoG chair positions as an influential position,an office that is in-charge of a multimillion kitty that is made up of contributions by the 47 counties and also donors.The chair of CoG also co-chairs Intergovernmental Budget Executive Council meetings with the Deputy President.The President is mandated by law to chair the Governors’ Summit which is attended by the 47 governors annually.
The three contestants were involved in intense lobbing yesterday as they made frantic efforts to consolidate support for their respective bids.Efforts to reach the aspirants proved futile as their phones went unanswered.It remains to be seen whether the 24 CORD governors will display their dominance against the 23 JUBILEE governors,a scenario that the governors have vehemently denied is likely to play out.
ODM chairman John Mbadi and his TNA counterpart Johnson Sakaja have said that they have not instructed their members to vote for a particular candidate exuding confidence that the governors will pick a chair that will serve the interests of the counties.Other positions whose leaders will be picked today are the CoG Vice Chair,Whip and chairpersons of the various CoG committees.The governors are expected to announce the new list of official at 12.30PM today.
Story by Jeremiah Wakaya
Senior Editor
Real Trends Blog
REAL TRENDS BLOG 