Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho’s deputy Ms Hazel Katana had for long been out of the public limelight until last weekend on Saturday when she declared that she had joined the Jubilee Party.
Katana cited frustration from her boss, Joho, when she ditched the Orange party, bringing to light her strained relationship with the Mombasa Governor.
“I have been insulted and told I am an idler and lazy. I have been reduced to reading newspapers. I have suffered lack of recognition but I am happy because I will have peace in Jubilee,” Ms Katana said when she defected.
Kenyans.co.ke dug deeper into the saga and found out that Joho fell out with his deputy last year.
Joho’s director of Communication, Richard Chacha divulged that the Governor had prepared for the exit of Katana and that they were only waiting for her to make it official.
Chacha disclosed to this journalist that Ms Katana betrayed her allegiance to Joho and ODM last year in March when she began campaigning for a Jubilee candidate during the Malindi By-election.
“You remember the Malindi by-election, Katana began to campaign for Jubilee’s Philip Charo as opposed to ODM candidate Willy Mtengo, who went ahead to win the by-election, yet she claimed she was a member of the Orange party,” Chacha said.
The spokesman disclosed that Joho began to doubt Katana's loyalty suspecting that she had been working secretly with Jubilee for a long time behind their backs.
“This made it difficult for Joho to work with her… We were suffocating as a county working with someone who is in Jubilee yet we are ODM,” Chacha stated during a phone interview with Kenyans.co.ke.
After her defection, Katana disclosed that she had not received her salary for over a year.
Mr Chacha confirmed that indeed the Mombasa Deputy Governor had not been receiving her pay but he failed to delve much into the matter stating, “she knows why her deputies failed to disburse her salary.”
On her new bid to become the Mombasa Senator on a Jubilee ticket during the upcoming Elections, Mr Chacha said they wished her well, adding that she was still the deputy governor of Mombasa County by law.
Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta officially received Katana to the Jubilee Party on Wednesday during his tour of the coast region.
