• Nyoro is at loggerheads with Governor Ferdinand Waititu and a section of MCAs over county affairs.
• Says he will not bow to pressure by his critics who have asked him to quit.
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Kiambu Deputy Governor James Nyoro has told off his critics who are demanding his resignation.
Nyoro is at loggerheads with Governor Ferdinand Waititu and a section of MCAs over the running of county affairs.
He said he will not bow to pressure by his critics who have asked him to quit.
Nyoro has repeatedly accused Waititu of running a one-man administration and wasting county cash through misplaced priorities. He said he will not leave his position, saying he was given the mandate by Kiambu people.
The deputy governor spoke in Thika town when he accompanied area MP Patrick Wainaina and Broadways Bakeries director Bimal Shah in commissioning a Sh8.5 million block of classrooms built by the bread company.
“It doesn’t matter who is calling for my resignation. I am not resigning and I will be in the county government until August 2022. I have a lot of work to do as I was mandated by Kiambu residents,” he said.
Nyoro said he is concentrating on projects being rolled out across the county, among them a food security project in Gatuanyaga and Ngoliba wards in Thika.
“We are collaborating with development partners to initiate a project that will benefit our people. We are also calling on the national government to assist us dig water pans in the arid and semi-arid parts of the county so as to get water for irrigation that will enhance food security for our people,” Nyoro said.
He insisted that there’s no bad blood between him and Waititu and that they only differ in ideology.
Two weeks ago, Waititu while launching the tarmacking of the seven-kilometer Juja-Juja Farm road which will be constructed by the county government at a cost of Sh278 million described Nyoro as a "cry baby" who is always in the media complaining that he has been sidelined in county matters.
The county chief told Nyoro to apologise to him for failing to defend him over the controversial county audit report that was presented to the Senate.
Waititu said Nyoro ganged up with his political enemies to tarnish his name by peddling falsehoods about the county’s expenditures.
“He is my deputy and I thought he would be the first person to come to my defence when I appeared before the Senate committee. But I was shocked to see him joining my political opponents to lynch me,” Waititu said.
The governor scoffed at Nyoro’s assertion that they never hold meetings to discuss county matters, saying they were not elected to be sitting in boardrooms.
“There’s no way we can be holding meetings everyday because Kiambu people elected us to serve them and not to sit in the offices,” he said.
At the same time, Waititu dismissed claims by Bishop David Ngari alias Gakuyo that the latter funded his gubernatorial race with money from his troubled Ekeza Sacco which is under receivership.
Ngari who owns Ekeza Sacco and Gakuyo Real Estate had claimed that he pumped Sh400 million into Waititu’s campaign.
However, the governor dismissed the claims and told Ngari to carry his own cross.
“Gakuyo should stop smearing other people’s names. He should tell the truth and refund the money he owes his Sacco members if he is a man of God as we know him,” Waititu said.