Tana River Governor Hussein Dado yesterday denied he was offered money to defect to the Jubilee Party.
Dado said he is unaware that money was placed on him to decamp from Wiper. He said the rumour peddlers want to raise the political temperature in the county.
“I was not even in the country at the time I am said to have received the money,” Dado said. The governor is said to have been approached to decamp from Wiper but he turned down the offer on grounds that the money offered was too little. “With the current laws on party hopping, I have to tread carefully,” Dado said.
“I am in Wiper and still in consultation with the people who voted for me.”
He said his government has worked hard for unity and to foster peace.
Last year, politicians seeking to influence the 2017 election were linked to clashes in Hurara, Tana Delta, that left three people dead and displaced more than 1,500.
Investigations revealed politicians from the Wardei community wanted to evict members of the rival Mijikenda community to boost their political control. The clashes between Wardei pastoralists and Mijikenda farmers occurred in Wachu Oda in Garsen constituency, which is rich in votes.
The objective is to push those farmer voters back to Kilifi, where they are believed to have lived before settling in Tana River.
The governor said he wouldn’t want to take Tana River back to the dark days of community clashes. Dado said the court has revoked a 45-year lease on 25,875ha to Tana and Athi River Development Authority.
The governor said the move is a good signal to efforts by the county to protect public property.
He said the court declared that Tarda and the National Lands Commission violated the law by fraudulently acquiring the lease.