Kisumu county commissioner on the spot – Weekly Citizen

Since inception of the Devolution in 2013, Kisumu county has had a good number of county commissioners who are officers seconded by the national government under the ministry of Interior and National Government Coordination so as to be in charge of coordinating national government activities within the county.

Among those who have served in Kisumu county as the county commissioners include Lorna Odera who was the first county commissioner of Kisumu after devolution came into being and served so well. Athur Osiya, Erastus Ekidor, John Elungata who is now serving as the Coast regional commissioner, Mohamed Salim current Makueni county commissioner, Pauline Dola the Kakamega county commissioner and Hussein Abdi the Bungoma county commissioner, have all worked well as county commissioners in Kisumu county and their track record speaks for themselves with only Hussein Abdi serving the shortest period before being succeeded by the current county commissioner Susan Waweru.

After being posted mid last year, the current Kisumu county commissioner took over with zeal and zest by starting to issue orders about banning disco Matangas across the county and instructed all chiefs and their assistants to ensure that the order is adhered to. She started on a good note but somewhere along the way, she abruptly started to become arrogant and began operating as a lone ranger on matters of the county security. To begin with, the besieged Kisumu county commissioner is alleged to have divided the county security issues into two and she is supposed to chair the county security and intelligence team.

It is alleged that she has a team which is totally loyal to her and the other one is comprised of those who are perceived to be disloyal and opposed to her modus operandi. What is amazing is that one of the notable figure whom the county commissioner is said to be working closely with and taking orders from, is Kisumu governor Anyang’ Nyong’o who is not a member of the county security team by law. Word has it that even police officers within the county are deeply divided as a result of the eminent division within the county security team being orchestrated by the county commissioner where a section of police officers who are said to be allied to the county commissioner and governor Nyong’o are said to be the the ones who are harassing members of the public and implementing the curfew selectively to suit their own whims. Recently, the county commissioner and Governor Nyong’o held a meeting at Kisumu bus terminus with the stakeholders on how to decongest the terminus so as to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

Kisumu county governor Anyang Nyongo

The meeting resolved that the main bus terminus was to be decongested and people were to be relocated to the new bus terminus which is yet to be completed near Mowlem along Nairobi-Kisumu road but something sinister emerged. This would have allowed those who are coming from nearby to work in such a place but this was not to be as some cartels allied to Governor Nyong’o and his wife Dorothy, are the ones who wanted to benefit first, hence this brought on the fore some disagreements. The county commissioner has been accused of playing a leading role
in ensuring that whatever the cartels allied to Nyong’o want flow and goes their way and direction.

On the issue of relocating Kibuye market traders to other areas, the county commissioner is said to have used police officers allied to her to tear gas traders who camped at the newly created “Corona Market” near Kondele area, temporarily so that only those who are genuinely supporting the incumbent governor benefit from the markets they were to be relocated to such as Manyatta, Kowino, Nyalenda among others. Recently, a nasty incident occurred in Kisumu where two boda boda riders lost their lives after they were murdered in cold blood. The county commissioner is said to have held a meeting with boda boda riders and what was discussed is still not clear since after such a meeting, hell broke loose and boda boda riders started engaging their colleagues in the boda boda CBOs in a fight that resulted to losing two lives of boda boda operators.

A junior police officer who spoke to this writer on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised revealed that when police tried to intervene in the matter, the county commissioner is said to have intervened and asked the police not to engage in the battles. It is alleged that those who fueled the fire on the boda boda issue are against the boda boda organisations. Residents wonder why after the county commissioner met both the Kisumu bus terminus stakeholders and the boda boda riders separately, as hell broke loose after such meetings. What is now perturbing is that the Kisumu county governor has issued a press release dated April 6 2020 directing the county director of social development to immediately deregister all the boda boda CBOs, Saccos and associations within the county.

“Two days ago, the county woke up to sad and disturbing news of senseless murders of two people, perpetrated by criminals masquerading as members of Kisumu county boda boda CBO. This is a clear indication that the boda boda has been hijacked by external forces to carry out criminal activities,” says Nyong’o in his press release. Nyong’o says that in view of the above scenario, the county security team and the county political leadership held a meeting and came up with the resolutions. The question members of the public are asking themselves since when is a governor allowed to convey a message from the county security team that is supposed to be conveyed by the chair of such a team who is the county commissioner. Nyong’o in his press release further directed that all the bank accounts held in the name of those CBOs, Saccos and associations be frozen with immediate effect until a new structure of the sector is organised.

Nyong’o has asked police to speed up investigations so as to help unearth the suspects in the murders but members of the public are wondering how the police will do this yet they were allegedly bared from engaging the boda boda when the issue came up. Back to the county commissioner, she is said to be wielding so much power because of her having a godfather at Harambee House, the seat of the presidency, where she brags that a relative of her calls the shots. The public is in wonder what interest she has that makes her not to serve them diligently as a public servant posted in the name of county commissioner.

The big question is whether the county commissioner is playing politics and wants to help the governor clear some hurdles which might be on his way to the 2022 general election and thus an impediment? It is against this background that residents of Kisumu county have appealed to Uhuru Kenyatta and Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i to quickly intervene and save them from the wrath of the county commissioner whom they now want to be immediately transferred. They claim that with her continuous stay in the county, service delivery to members of the public will not be satisfactorily carried out, hence calls for her immediate removal from the county.

Interior CS Fred Matiangi

“Already, we are tired with this county commissioner who has not even stayed here at her work station for two years but has shown us her true character and colours. Susan Waweru previously served as a deputy provincial commissioner in Nyanza province under the former PC Francis Mutie who served as the Nyanza PC from 2009 to 2016.