KENYA: Kiambu County Governor William Kabogo has said no law bars him from being referred to as “His Excellency”.
Kiambu County Governor William Kabogo
The governor defended the use of the title and running a long convoy of vehicles saying any discussion on this would be petty.
But speaking separately, Meru Governor Peter Munyahas denied causing traffic interruptions in his area while his convoy passes.
Munya said contrary to the claims made by Tigania East MP Mpuru M’Aburi in Parliament last week, he only has two vehicles in his convoy while on duty.
“I have only my vehicle and the one for my security detail contrary to the false allegations made on the floor of the House last Thursday by the MP, Munya said.
Kabogo who was speaking to youths at Paradise Inn near Kiambu town said the law does not bar anyone from acquiring the title “His Excellency.”
He said for instance, the ambassadors use the title while Rotary clubs have presidents but no one has ever protested.
He accused the MPs of playing politics on the issue. “It’s not we who gave ourselves the titles but it’s the people. The President himself has no problems with that,” Kabogo said and admitted he enoyed this reference.
Last week, some MPs accused the governors of acquiring the title which they said is only meant for the President and also accused them of attempting to create parallel governments. M’Aburi accused Munya at the floor of the House of behaving like a president by using a large convoy of cars which allegedly brought traffic to a two-hour standstill.
Munya however told M’Aburi to direct his energies to the many pressing needs of his electorate instead of being trivial.
He said he respects all leaders from the county and would work with them but asked those leaders to focus on their mandate.
Parallel States
“Each of the elected leaders in the four levels of power, namely the County Assembly representative, the MP, the senator and the governor has a clearly defined constitutional mandate to discharge and I do not personally see any conflicts,” he said.
He was addressing the press outside the Maua Catholic church moments after presiding over a harambee for the institution on Saturday evening.
He said each of the elected leaders should confine him/herself to the mandate of their positions to avoid unnecessary wrangles for the sake of service delivery. The Governor assured the area residents that he was just starting to implement some of the promises he made during the elections and warned those out to derail him they would not succeed.
On a different note, Kabogo also said despite his county having failed to meet the June 30 budget submission deadline, the matter was being sorted out.
Source The Standard
