News

Vihiga county governor Wilbur Ottichilo an embarassment to Vihiga and must be voted out in 2022!

Vihiga County Governor Wilber Ottichilo recently confessed that he regrets being a Governor.in an interview with The Star, he told reporter Hilton Otenyo he is tired of being governor. (Quote).

‘’Being a governor is a very difficult job. Sometimes I regret why I became a governor. The pressure is too much and expectations from voters very high. The pressure is so intense that you cannot have time for your family. When you get home in the evening, you’re so tired that you don’t want to talk to anybody. The worst thing is the mobile phone. People will keep calling and you can’t switch it off because you never know when an emergency will occur. You don’t know whether the President can call you. And if you put it off, the voters will see you as avoiding them and there will be a backlash.’’

the star 23rd November 2020

He admitted that he is forever in hiding from those who elected him because they “they pester me for money. They think I have lots of money to give them”. Ottichilo avoids his office like a plague and has used the Covid-19 as an added advantage to hide. He also has abandoned his palatial home in Emuhaya for a hotel in the County, all at the expanse of the people he governs.

A reclusive Ottichilo is a widower who is only seen during official functions at the County before surfacing in Nairobi.

“Ottichilo is a failure. We were not going to re-elect him anyway. But he has given us enough.This view cuts across all county demographics with youth, women, elders and professionals decrying lack of development.

ALL THE SEVEN MPS DON’T SUPPORT OTICHILO.

 Worse, he has no supporter among the seven MPs in the County. Though all MPs shrugged off going on record for this story, their disdain for Ottichilo a matter of media record. Luanda MP has accused Ottichilo of marginalizing his area and sponsoring his former Chief of Staff Noah Okaya against him. Sabatia MP is raring to go against Ottichilo in 2020, as is Senator George Khaniri. All the MPs never respond to invitations or grace events by the Governor. At the heart of the bad blood is what they claim Ottichilo’s deceit. At a meeting coordinated by the now sacked Advisor Kibisu Kabatesi and attended by all the MPs at the Mudavadi Centre in 2017 before his inauguration, Ottichilo made three promises in what was named “shared government” to them that he has broken.

These were that each MP would nominate three names each for positions of county ministers and chief officers. That meant that each MP would have at least one nominee appointed for minister and chief officers.

Second was the promise that he will not appoint anyone who ran against the incumbents into the county government. This he has absconded on.

Third that he would organize quarterly meetings to harmonize development initiatives to avoid duplication but increase prudent pooling of resources. Ottichilo never did, only duping the MPs with failed meetings When he is faced with impeachment crises

Otichillo has zero regards for professionals as he divides Vihiga into sub clan enclaves.

Professionals are the most turned-off after they rallied to his side in 2017 elections. They blame him for non-performance and ignoring them in award of tenders. He is also blamed for dividing Vihiga people along clan lines

Ottichilo is a fraud. He showered blame on the former regime of Moses Akaranga claiming he was building an absent government system. When he ran out blaming Akaranga, he gave the excuse of planning. After three years, we don’t see any sign of a plan, only confusion, lost revenue and corruption. The only thing he does best is sack workers yet the wage bill keeps rising. This is theft”,

says a professional based in Mombasa

otichillo unfit for a county top seat...

Many local people, including members of his Cabinet, doubt Ottichilo’s management credentials. That he was voted best performing while Emuhaya MP has been brought to question with his favorable placement in an Infotrak survey that other governors have claimed was a money extortion scheme.

It is not beyond incredible speculation for people to assume that Ottichilo favorable placement could have been bought. Maybe the County Assembly ought to investigate whether payment was made to Infotrak”,

a civil society official said

“The Most deplorable thing is he lied to us about development projects he would initiate. He shared and we approved a very good integrated plan in 2018. But nothing has come of it. He’s always blaming other people. It’s always one lie after another”, regretted a professional who attended the meeting at United Kenya Club in October 2018.

The crude sacking of Kibisu Kabatesi underscores the disdain Otichillo has for Vihiga county professionals…

Another professional said Ottichilo’s disdain for professionals is seen in the crude manner he has treated them.

“Just look at the way he disposed of our colleague Kibisu Kabatesi who was our link to him and replaced him with unqualified home boys,” he said. “Kibisu Kabatesi is widely respected. He is very good at outreach to key groups like elders and professionals. You always knew where you stood with him. How do you then sack a hospitalized person who has saved you from impeachment three times, without the courtesy of a notice? It’s heartless and crude. It’s very unfortunate Ottichilo is now surrounded by people with suspect reputations”

an agrieved proffessional said.


Mudavadi cultural center halted by Otichillo!!!

Elders blame Ottichilo for sabotaging the construction of the proposed Moses Mudavadi Cultural Centre and attempting to divide them. This disappointment is cited as an example of Ottichilo catastrophic failure to fulfill a single campaign pledge.

He has created a fraudulent elders council led by Fred Omido which pretends to be the official Vihiga County Council of Elders. Every year we beseech him to start construction of the Centre which appears as a flagship project in the County integrated plan, but it’s never done. He even wanted to kill annual community cultural festivals,”

lamented an elder.

250 million world bank money not accounted for…

The Civil society groups now want aimless Ottichilo to account for sh250 million World Bank money that was meant to upgrade Vihiga Municipality. They question the rationale of the recent award of sh10 million to Luanda market and have called for an investigation to unravel how much of the World Bank money has been allocated for Majengo, Chavakali and Mudete markets that are part of Vihiga Municipality. If no money was allocated, it means Ottichilo flaunted World Bank rules upon which the grant was given to the County. Questions may also arise as to whether these markets are being discriminated in allocations because they happen to be in Maragoli areas. Even then, a probe of World Bank money used to beautify Mbale Town is underway to find out by how much was used, whether the cost was inflated and which contractors benefitted. It is noteworthy that beautification had stalled and a new contractor was sourced. As it is, there is deliberate marginalization of Sabatia and Vihiga, the Maragoli dominated sub-counties in allocation of resources. Under Ottichillo, Sabatia and Vihiga have no flagship County projects. Instead, Ottichillo has shifted all money-guzzling projects to his Bunyore home area. Mega projects like the Mibhokho Fingerlings Fish Farm and Granite Factory are located in his native area.

BELGIUM CLUSTER WATER PROJECT STILL A MIRAGE….

The Belgium Cluster Water project started by the former regime has stalled everywhere else except in Emuhaya where people are being blindfolded by the laying down of pipes that have taken forever. As if to justify treachery, Ottichilo was unconcerned that Mbale Town doesn’t have running water since October due what is said to be a breakdown of a pump at Lunyerere. There also the feeling that county roads have been neglected in these areas though Hamisi sub-county is no better off despite pressure from Deputy Governor Patrick Saisi for a share of the county cake.

Kabatesi was sacked for questioning the prudent use of county funds…

Chilling report Ottichilo has sat on but which is speculated caused Kibisu Kabatesi (popular as KK) the Advisors job is story of fraudulent sleaze and pilfering of money meant for projects. The report reveals that the County has paid for projects that were poorly done, not completed, undone or which don’t exist at all. We have obtained some correspondence that associate Kibisu Kabatesi with advising the Governor to wield the whip just before he was shunted aside:

“Evening H.E. It’s been a while. Not been easy to catch you but I understand. I Came to Nairobi today for an emergency Med-checkup. Meanwhile;.3. Dr Amayi shared with me his report and it’s shocking why responsible officers have been selling lies about projects. The goodwill properly completed projects would’ve accrued to you is being lost to perceptions of graft and incompetence. Good money is being thrown at bad implementation. I would that every implementing officer account for the mishaps in their departs and if unconvincing, fire them. And go public why on each individual. In this endeavor, you need the cabinet fully on board. G’night.”

H.E. Ottichilo instead fired Kibisu Kabatesi who was hospitalized.

Reached for comment, Kibisu Kabatesi confirmed the correspondence but refused further comment only saying “Absurd, Absurd, Absurd” in reference to his firing.

Rudderless Ottichillo, who regrets being governor, however, has embarked on a marginalization policy of communities in appointments and development resource allocation. He hopes his latest fad will win back waNyore support, who have denounced him after enduring for long Ottichilo’s false promises and rustic management of the county. Today the Governor’s office and the Executive is an exclusive cowshed of his waNyore community discredited brokers after illegal sackings and interdictions of majority Maragoli. His new Chief of Staff is a primary school teacher. The new Political Advisor a school dropout fired recently for non-performance as ANC County Chairman. And the County Secretary is a person of interest in loss of money when he was principal of Vihiga Boys High.

All “juicy” departments where corruption is the work ethic are manned by his relatives as executives and chief officers. These include Finance, Infrastructure and Transport, Health and Agriculture. These departments are where money is “chewed”. in what is seen as an ethnic purge. In an absurd move that borders on bribery, the Governor recently employed as the County Attorney a lawyer who is handling all cases by County workers sacked, suspected or interdicted against Ottichilo.

With all these, Ottichilo will not have to regret being a governor again for the good people of Vihiga will definitely ensure his early retirement in 2022.

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button