Jonathan Manyindo
15 February 2008
Nairobi — A political row is brewing in Taita District after councillors and MPs differed over the choice of council chairman. Councillors are opposed to the choice of Mr Laban Tole by the MPs. They argue that at his age, Mr Tole, a former senior deputy director of CID, should not be burdened with heavy responsibilities.
Taita MPs
Mr Tole is in his 70s and is the Mbale Ward councillor. He is the favourite of the three Taita MPs - Calist Mwatela, Dan Mwazo and Thomas Mwadeghu. The civic leaders claim the MPs were defying democracy by imposing leaders on them. Mwatate councillor Arresmus Mwarabu has declared his interest in the seat to be contested on February 25. Mr Mwarabu has gained substantial support from the youthful councillors.
"I'm taking the challenge to contest the seat because MPs do not have anything to do with their elections ... "We do not interfere with theirs in Parliament and for democracy to prevail, MPs should keep off and let us give them our choice," he said. Others who had earlier declared interest in the seat include Mr Celestine Mwakio of Bura Ward, but he has since gone quiet. Taita Taveta county council has 17 elected councillors, 13 from ODM while two are from Kanu.
ODM-K and DP has one each. At the same time the ODM-K councillor, Mr Wilson Mwang'ombe, said he would go for the vice-chairmanship against his Ngolia counterpart Jones Mganga.
Ten leaders
By Thursday, at least 10 civic leaders from ODM had said they would support Mr Mwarabu. "We have the numbers and strategies to carry the day," Mr Mwarabu said. They have been meeting in various hotels laying strategies on how to capture the seat, but declined to disclose their formula.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
