The announcement by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to have the Deputy county commissioner for Matayos Sub County vacate his current office in Busia to Lwanya in the Matayos area seems to have angered a section of the Busia Council of Elders.
The elders termed it as the “government’s intention to interfere with the existing administrative and political boundaries and displacement of key government offices in Busia County.”
The elders from Nambale, Matayos, Butula, Bunyala, and Samia sub-counties converged through their chairman George Wesonga, who noted that Mr Kindiki did not involve the locals, especially from the Luhya region when making the declaration to relocate the Deputy County Commissioner for Matayos to pave room for the Teso South Deputy County commissioner after the formation of Teso Central Sub-county.
“While addressing a public rally at Amukura in Teso South sub-county while commissioning Teso Central sub-county, Mr Kindiki failed to engage the elders from the Luhya region and therefore his declaration was and is still uncalled for and illegal since it never took into consideration of views from other sub counties apart from the two Teso sub-counties,” said the chairperson.
They want the government to “put a hold on the said arrangement until all concerned parties are involved.”
According to them, if the Cabinet Secretary for the Interior & National Administration Mr Kithure Kindiki’s decision is allowed to go on, it may cause mayhem and conflict among the affected groups in Busia County.
“Overlooking views of other stakeholders will create unnecessary tension and animosity in Busia County and that is why we want the boundaries and offices to remain the way they have been until all the parties are brought on board,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Omollo Washington an Elder from Samia Subcounty and Secretary general of the Busia Council of Elders, saying that it would not be fair for the two sub-counties (Teso South and North) to manage the main border points of Malaba and Busia border posts while Luhya region is left with none.
“We are appealing to the CS to reconsider what he had with people from the two sub-counties and let them come down here and we agree on how to share the available resources, but if they insist we will be forced to take our own course,” Omollo said in a press briefing.
While commissioning the Teso Central Sub-county two weeks ago Cabinet Secretary for the Interior & National Administration Kithure Kindiki ordered the current Teso South Deputy County Commissioner Isaac Keter to relocate to Busia town offices where the current Matayos sub-county deputy commissioner Mr Muthike Ndambuki has been operating from, ordering him to move to Matayos at Lwanya Divisional headquarters
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