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No, new governor of Kenya’s Kiambu county has not appointed deputy

A Facebook post  shared to a group of 2.1 million members claims James Nyoro, the new governor of Kiambu county just north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, has appointed “Clifford waititu Babayao” as his deputy.

The post includes two photos: one shows the ousted governor of the county, usually known as Ferdinand Waititu, and the other is of Nyoro, who took office on 31 January 2020.

Nyoro was sworn in as the third governor of Kiambu county and replaced Waititu, whom he had deputised. Waititu was impeached by the Kiambu county assembly on 19 December 2019, and removed from office on 29 January 2020.

Waititu went to court in a bid to stop Nyoro from taking office but Kenyan high court judge Weldon Korir ruled against the ousted governor on 31 January 2020.

So, has Nyoro appointed a deputy governor? We checked.



Waititu in court again to stop Nyoro


On 3 February 2020, Waititu went to court again, to try to stop Nyoro from appointing a deputy governor, at least until the court had ruled on his case.

His petition was opposed by the Kiambu county assembly, the senate and the two speakers, and high court judge James Makau dismissed Waititu’s case.

There is no evidence that Nyoro is considering Waititu for deputy governor, and no evidence that anyone has been appointed for the post yet. Some residents have urged Nyoro to consider a woman for the position. – Grace Gichuhi 




 

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