Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has been urged to allow voters to freely choose his successor come 2022.
The appeal came from Malava residents who warned that imposing a candidate on them would be counterproductive.
They welcomed his promise to support someone from the Kabras community to succeed him. However, that person should be their choice, they said.
Deputy Governor Philip Kutima is from the Kabras. In the run-up to the August 2017 election, Oparanya said Kutima would be his preferred successor. But in the recent past, the governor has been sending mixed signals. He has also expressed a liking for Ikolomani MP Bernard Shinali of Jubilee to succeed him.
County chief finance officer John Imbogo, also from Malava, is believed to be interested in the county top job. This has put him on a collision path with Kutima.
Kutima has been traversing the county to popularise his bid on the pretext of inspecting development projects initiated by the county government.
Yesterday, the residents warned him against making statements that Oparanya had endorsed him.
“We’re not ready to be given a candidate. We want to agree upon ourselves on who should vie for the governorship,” Tom Mwanje said.
He said some “busybodies are misleading” Oparanya to back Kutima.
Former councillor Shalo Woni said the community will lose the seat if Kutima gets the endorsement.
“Hotel declarations will not be accepted,” he said.
Woni accused Kutima of not defending Malava cane farmers in the six years he has been deputy governor and the head of the Agriculture docket.
Efforts to get Kutima’s comments were unsuccessful. He did not return calls or respond to text messages.
Others keen to square it off for the governorship are Lugari MP Ayub Savula, Senator Cleophas Malala and former Senator Boni Khalwale.