• Appearing before the Senate Devolution Committee inquiring into the allegations, Kapkory alleged senior officers under the governor have directly threatened her life.
• Kapkory narrated how she has been excluded, discriminated, sidelined in decision making and running of county affairs.
Image: FILE
Trans Nzoia Deputy Governor Philomena Kapkory has alleged threat to her life as she narrated harrowing frustration in her bitter fallout with Governor George Natembeya.
Appearing before the Senate Devolution Committee inquiring into the allegations, Kapkory alleged senior officers under the governor have directly threatened her life.
However, her boss, Natembeya, has not taken any action despite officially writing to him to act.
Consequently, she disclosed, she has not set foot in her office in Trans Nzoia since early last month. She said she operates from Nairobi for fear of her life.
"The threats issued against me were personal and the constant message was that I am not required to step in my office as I had become a “persona non-grata'" she said.
"The threats were to the effect that if I stepped in the office or if I was seen, the said officials were ready to deal with me."
The threats, she said, have been glaring as the officers even post them on social media.
Shockingly, she said, not even the DCI nor the governor has moved to tame those threatening her life.
"I have been following up with the DCI, but nothing, a month later, has been done. Not even a single arrest," Kapkory told the committee chaired by Wajir Senator Sheik Abbas.
Abbas said the committee will invite the governor, DCI, NCIC, Council of Governors and Deputy Governors Caucus in its quest to reconcile the two.
Kapkory narrated how she has been excluded, discriminated, sidelined in decision making and running of county affairs.
She claimed her monthly office budget has been slashed from Sh200,000 to Sh50,000.
Kapkory claimed that she has been denied use of designated residence as deputy governor.
She said the residence was initially turned into a campaign centre before it was allocated to the "county first lady" as her office.
“I have not had the opportunity to effectively discharge my roles due to a number of factors and reasons," the deputy governor said.
"My predicaments as deputy governor border on lack of facilitation to discharge duties, contempt, mistreatment, intimidation, security and threats to life, public vilification, and deliberate acts of disrespect by junior county staff."
Kapkory charged that in September, while in the US attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), she received a number of messages from concerned residents informing her of abusive and threatening posts on various social media platforms targeted at her.
She contends that the threatening message were posted by known officials who are part of the governor’s communication team.
Kapkory said the messages were published or posted after a delegation of members of the Sabaot community made a presentation at the National Dialogue Committee at Bomas in Nairobi, demanding for the creation of an extra county.
The deputy governor said although she reported the matter to Governor Natembeya and even wrote a letter to him on October 4, 2023, he ignored.
“Following my formal communication to the governor through the letter, one of the communication’s officer attached to the governor’s office, went ahead to record and circulate a video in which he directly addressed me," she said.
"In that video, the official is heard abusing me using unprintable words and threatening to deal with me.”
“The words used in the video were not only demeaning and disrespectful, but they also amounted to threats to my personal security and life,” she added.
Kapkory in her narration said despite receiving communication from her, the governor never took any action.
Instead, the governor 'joined' in the public vilification, giving public speeches meant to defame, demean and further disrespect her, she said.
“In the video clips, the governor can be heard uttering words meant to spur ethnic animosity, incite communities against each other, and create a false impression that a certain community is under threat or attack," Kapkory claimed.
"The impression created in one of the video clips is that members of a community were armed with dangerous weapons, and that him (the governor) is being targeted.”
“The import of the message is to inspire ethnic animosity and hatred, and to incite a section of the community against me as a person. This exposes me to grave danger from some resident members of the county who were falsely made to believe that I was behind the alleged arming of citizens.”
She said she reported the matter to DCI at Muthangari police station and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) but the DCI is yet to take action, one month down the line, despite follow ups.
She further claimed that the former deputy governor handed over to her the keys to the official residence in August last year, but the office was blocked.
Yesterday, the deputy governor claimed that she is constantly being sidelined in key meetings and functions and that her advice on various aspects has often been disregarded.
“I have never been accorded a meaningful opportunity to discharge functions effectively," she said.
"The governor has sidelined me in the issues of county governance, and he has subjected me to bullying, intimidation and mockery by junior county staff,” she said.
Kapkory further claimed that Natembeya has been encouraging and condoning insubordination and disrespect by some members of the executive and junior staff, arbitrary reduction and delay of budgetary facilitation for legitimate operations of her office.
“All my efforts to reach the governor through phone calls and messages have borne no fruits.