Governor Malombe plays down his bid to defend his seat in 2027

 Dr Malombe said as to whether or not he will defend his seat in 2027, his focus and priority had shifted to addressing the pressing issues currently affecting 1.2 million county residents whose agenda is to have a distinguished life cycle.

“It is not my current focus on whether or not I will seek to defend my seat in the 2027 elections. My priority remains on delivering on the mandate I have been given to address the pressing needs of our people. If the constitution allows it, I will consider defending my seat, but that decision will be made at the opportune time. For now, I prefer not to politicise the next General Election.” the governor said.

He spoke on Saturday during the thanks-giving ceremony of the Yatta-Kwavonza MCA, Kitute Nding’o, at his Mamole village home in Kitui Rural. The ceremony was also attended by Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu, who announced his bid to succeed Malombe as governor in 2027 at the end of his constitutional tenure in office. Malombe said he will refrain himself from engaging in matters of succession politics but commit himself and his administration in tackling challenges that apparently have relegated and sidelined the semi-arid county from benefitting fully from available both county and national governments’ resources and opportunities.

He said his dream and aspiration was to resuscitate the development and transformation’s vision and agenda for the semi-arid county, and to progressively improve residents’ livelihoods and their living standards.

The governor underscored his government’s achievements two-years and 10 months in office in bringing order, sense of direction, proper planning and execution of programmes. He said his government already constructed the male and female wards at the Yatta Health Centre and committed to fully equipping them to further enhance healthcare services in the area.

His sentiments come when pioneer governors, who made a comeback in the 2022 general election, including Malombe himself, plan to persuade the High Court to scrap the term limit policy to allow them run again in 2027 elections.

The emerging development has triggered a political storm over the lacuna in law on the governors’ and their deputies’ two-term limit in office.

Once petitioned, the court will have a duty to interpret and determine the contentious Article 180 (7) of the Constitution on the election of county chiefs and deputies which states: “A person shall not hold office as a county governor for more than two terms”.

In Kitui in particular, allies of Malombe are pushing him to run for third term in 2027, arguing that his consecutive term was cut short in 2017 when he lost to Charity Ngilu, only to reclaim it in the 2022 polls.

However, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, who also has declared his interest to succeed Malombe in 2027, termed the plot by the pioneer governors pushing for the ‘consecutive two terms’ law, as the most “demonstration of ignorance” .

Wambua said the lacuna in law narrative is a very retrogressive and selfish appreciation of the supreme law.

He said whereas it is the constitutional right of every citizen to move to court to pursue a just cause, this right must be weighed against the courts’ valuable time and the serious workload before our courts.

“There is no separate law for first term governors and those serving their second and last term. In my view, going to court to ask if a governor can serve a third term for whatever reason would be the clearest demonstration of ignorance in basic interpretation of the Constitution,” the senator said.

However, Wambua, who is scheduled to launch his gubernatorial bid at his Kyondoni village home, Kitui West on Saturday the August 9, said everyone has a right to approach the courts to pursue any just cause and wished the agitators well in their pursuit.