Just days after Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko was named Patron of the Kenya Scouts Association in Nairobi County, and the representative of the World Scouts Parliamentary Union at the Council of Governors, his new titles were stripped.
The Kenya Scouts Council, in a press statement on Wednesday, September 16, dissociated itself from the coronation that took place on Friday, September 11 at the Nairobi Railways Ground, citing that it was illegal.
The statement signed by former Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi, who is the chair of the Kenya Scouts Council, Victor Radido, the Chief Commissioner and chair of the National Scout Board, indicated that the honour could only be granted by the National Scout Board.
The board has since indicated that the ceremony failed to meet critical requirements.
"The approval must be conducted in accordance with the Kenya Scouts Association constitution and other standard operating procedures which include meeting set criteria.
"An installation ceremony is a solemn scout ceremony and must be officiated by either the sitting chief commissioner or, on his absence, a National Commissioner of the Kenya Scouts Association who he/she must have delegated the task to," reads the statement in part.
Additionally, the association indicated that it had written a letter to Sonko a day before the ceremony, advising him against proceeding with the installation, having not met the criteria.
On Friday, Sonko was received by Senator Petronilla Were who is the Vice President of the World Scouts Parliamentary Union (WSPU).
Accepting his new role, Sonko had issued an order to the County Department of Youth and Education to work out a way through which the county government would be able to fund Scouts' activities.
"I wish to challenge all of us to ask ourselves how relevant the scouting movement is to the young people of today. Do we meet the aspirations of the youth?
What is the benefit of being a scout? What lessons do we learn to help humanity? Are adults well informed and equipped to support their children who are scouts?" he posted on Facebook.
