West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo is a well-educated responsible politician.
But the disdain with which he treats his job handed to him by thousands of residents is a matter of national shame.
Since he took office two years ago, his deputy Dr Nicholas Atudonyang has been busy practising family medicine in the US.
Lonyangapuo, in his wisdom, sees nothing wrong with having an elected deputy who works in the US. He forgets that he swore to serve his county as a duo with Atudonyang. That's what the law demands, that's what he must do.
The absence is also morally unacceptable.
The governor has defended his deputy with the misplaced logic that Atudonyang does not get a salary. That's way off the mark.
The deputy governor was elected to serve Pokots. If he doesn't want to do that, he should resign.
Pokot is teeming with energetic, ambitious and development-conscious politicians who can do the job.
We urge the Senate, which has summoned Lonyangapuo over the impasse, to compel the governor to realise that a call to public duty should not be subject to personal whims.
Atudonyang must quit his Pokot job and work for Americans or return to serve the people he betrays with each day in Texas.
Quote of the Day: “Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.”
Seamus Heaney
The Irish poet and playwright (Nobel Prize in Literature 1995) died on August 30, 2013.
