As political violence once again rears its ugly head in the county, Education Secretary Ezekiel Machoghu clashed with Governor Simba Arati on Friday at a burial ceremony in Kisii town.
This came after mourners, mostly students, heckled CS as he began reading President William Ruto's eulogy during the funeral of Kisii National University of Technology Principal Daniel Nyariki. Ta.
Mr Machog had a difficult time dealing with mourners who booed him throughout most of his speech.
The Education CS also had to interrupt Arati's speech for more than 10 minutes as he entered the ceremony to a heroic welcome from mourners.
“Dear university students, I have brought my study materials. This 400, 500 shillings given to you is barbaric, foolish and stupid… Members of the Kisii community, will you forgive that stupidity?” CS gave a speech Inside, he said Arati was responsible for the heckler.
Mr Machog added: “Do you want us to accept that stupidity? We want to do development. If it is the governor, let us do development, not noise, because we have Sh15 billion. In noise. No…the noise must end in Kisii. As elders, we have seen a lot of stupidity here and we will come out and stop this barbarity. Dear Outside Visitors. , This is not our tradition. Our tradition is to respect the dead, but there are some young people who come here and do not understand our tradition.”
The Cabinet Secretary then invited the newly appointed Kisii County Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Kibet, to address the gathering. Mr. Kibet likewise warned Governor Arati about the turmoil in Kisii.
The CS then left the burial site while Mr. Arati stood and gave a speech.
Speaking at a rally, Arati hit back at Machog, saying: “They stopped their jobs and completed their gossip.”
“I want to ask my fellow leaders, if you focus the power you use on development gossip, our country and county will experience tremendous growth. This negative energy Let’s put it all to work,” Arati said.
Arati described the chaos being witnessed in Kisii as “home-ground terrorism” while blaming the CS for allegedly being behind the political violence in Kisii.
“You've seen this guy talking here… He shouldn't stand here and lecture me. He should be thanking the president for saving him from oblivion. ” the governor told CS.
He said Machog was unpopular in the region because he received only a small number of votes in the last gubernatorial election.
He also vowed to run for another gubernatorial election in 2027 and defeat him again.
Arati told county commissioners, “You've been given a job, so do it. Don't bring threats here. If you want votes, go to your hometown and look for them there. You can't be crazy enough to pay. ” he scolded. “All these people are paid to come to the funeral. If I had the authority, you should be afraid.”
