This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
On June 25, 2020, Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati announced his intention to dissolve the county government, citing endless squabbles between the executive and members of the county assembly.
The governor has launched a campaign to collect signatures from residents to have the county government dissolved, arguing that the unending wrangles had adversely affected service delivery.
According to Wangamati, the county has distributed forms across the 45 wards, and so far, over 60,000 signatures have been collected from registered voters.
Wangamati aims to collect at least 120,000 signatures, accounting for 10% of the 559,850 registered voters in the county, to meet the threshold to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county.
The governor has listed the impeachment of his executives as the main reason for wanting to dissolve the county, citing the impeachment of Antony Walela (Health) and Richard Sabwami (Public Administration) as examples.
Wangamati has also accused the MCAs of being used by external forces to frustrate his administration, paralysing the operations of the devolved unit.
He has further stated that the MCAs are under instructions not to pass the budget allocated for the Health docket, which would complete the construction of the new 300-bed capacity Bungoma County Referral and Sirisia hospitals.
Wangamati's decision to dissolve the county has been met with opposition from some quarters, with Wafula Wakoli, an associate of Senator Moses Wetang'ula, claiming that the county was using public participation, bursary, and fertiliser beneficiaries list to get the signatures.
