After the 2022 General Election, President William Ruto and politicians aligned with Kenya Kwanza pledged to work together to improve the economy.
However, some counties led by governors elected under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, have been affected by wrangles between the members of the county assemblies and governors, with the former threatening to impeach the latter.
Counties affected by the squabbles include; Kericho, Kiambu, Nairobi, and Meru.
In Meru, Governor Kawira Mwangaza was impeached by the MCAs over failure to establish a ward fund and allegedly appointing relatives to public office. The Senate, however, declined to uphold the decision, offering Mwangaza a lifeline.
Nairobi UDA MCAs then threatened to oust Governor Johnson Sakaja alleging that he had segregated them in the running of city affairs.
Kericho County leadership was recently called to order by President William Ruto who accused the politicians of putting self-interest ahead of service delivery to the people.
Kenyans.co.ke sought the opinion of experts who offered an insight into the source of the wrangles. Advocate and political analyst Danstan Omari revealed that the infightings could be attributed to MCAs lacking internal political competition.
“When you have it all and have no threat, you demolish yourself. Counties like Kericho and Kiambu have almost 100 per cent UDA representation. There is no opposition and nothing to fight for. Politicians thrive from such competition but in this case, they don't,” Omari opined.
He further stated that the squabbles resulted from the false entitlement of Governors and MCAs.
“Both the governors and MCAs are entitled because they have direct access to the President through calls, thus a clash of egos,” he added.
Omari however noted that with the prevailing instabilities, the biggest casualty may be President Ruto.
“President Ruto stands to be affected the most and it may hamper his plan on service delivery and recovery of the economy,” he cautioned.
Equally, governance expert Dr Jane Thuo, stated that to prevent these infights from occurring persistently, there was a need for training of MCAs.
“It will be important to have the top leadership of the UDA Party organise frequent bonding sessions for the County leadership in order for them to familiarize themselves with party agendas,” she observed.
The opposition, Azimio La Umoja, was also urged to stick together and hold the government accountable.
"Azimio are like orphans, they better stick together lest be quashed by UDA which can take advantage (of numbers) and run them out of the field. For survival, they must be together," Omari warned.
