This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
West Pokot County Assembly Leadership Crisis Deepens ¶
On April 28, 2020, the West Pokot county assembly underwent a significant change in leadership, with the ouster of two county assembly leaders of Kanu, the majority party in the assembly. The assembly majority leader Thomas Kapelisiwa was replaced by Weiwei MCA David Kapelisiwa, while chief whip Maddy Polokou was replaced by Endough ward representative Evanson Lomadunyi.
The change in leadership came after Kapelisiwa garnered 12 votes out of 14 and failed to communicate the changes to the house as required per the standing orders. The county assembly speaker, Catherine Mukenyang, rejected to communicate the changes to the house, leading to chaos, wrangles, and misunderstandings between members of the county assembly loyal to Salat and those of Governor Lonyangapuo.
At a press conference in the governor's residence in Kapenguria, Governor Lonyangapuo accused Salat of meddling with MCAs affairs in the assembly, which he claimed was tantamount to frustrating and sabotaging the executive and smooth running of the county assembly. Lonyangapuo faulted Salat for meddling in the party's West Pokot county affairs and asked them to keep off from the region and respect West Pokot county government.
David Kapelsiwa, the newly elected majority leader, stated that the two ousted leaders had started a rebellion, left the party, and joined a suspicious group called the third force, cheating the top party leadership. He accused the speaker of failure to communicate the changes to the house as required per the standing orders and further accused her for reading a strange document to the floor of house for adjourning the house irregularly till June.
Efforts to reach the speaker, majority leader, chief whip, and Senator Poghisio were futile as their phones were switched off.
