Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire is among Governors who skipped a high-level meeting between President William Ruto and county governors at State House on Wednesday, June 4.
The head of state convened the meeting to review ongoing development projects and discuss key areas of collaboration between the national and county governments.
However, the conspicuous absence of Mbarire drew attention, especially amid claims that certain individuals within the government are working against her.
Notably, Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti also boycotted the meeting.
Following the meeting, Ruto issued a statement highlighting the major agenda discussed, focusing on healthcare and agricultural reforms.
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"Hosted Governors to consult and review progress on the implementation of key inter-governmental development projects. We have embarked on an ambitious digitisation programme of our public health facilities to weed out fake hospitals that have for long unfairly benefitted from public funds," he said.
Ruto also announced sweeping reforms in the agriculture sector to streamline operations and increase farmer earnings.
"To deepen our agricultural reforms, we will harmonise and consolidate operations of agencies and departments under the Ministry of Agriculture. We will also enhance animal traceability by registering livestock farmers and introducing the e-voucher system for animal vaccination as we successfully did with the distribution of subsidised fertiliser," he noted.
While Mbarire skipped the State House meeting, she held a meeting with Deputy President Kithure Kindiki at his Karen office.
In a statement, Kindiki noted that the talks followed a similar engagement with Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi and the county’s Members of Parliament.
"Following last evening’s meeting with the Senator and Members of Parliament from Embu County, this morning met Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire and the County Assembly Majority Leader Peter Muriithi to discuss status of national government projects in the area and interventions to protect key agricultural values chains including tea, coffee, macadamia and cathus edulis (Muguuka)," he noted.
Speaking at an event after the meeting, Kindiki refuted reports of differences between him and Mbarire, describing her as his sister, even passing the greetings of the UDA chairperson, who was absent.
He maintained he had no issue with any elected leader from Embu, adding that they were all working together to ensure that the government delivers on its mandate.
"I do not think that there is anybody who knows me or who knows the friendship and ties that I have with the people and leaders of Embu who could imagine that there could be the slightest issues between us and any leader.
"To demonstrate that there are no problems, I bring you greetings from my sister, Cecil Mbarire. She could not be with us because the President had called another meeting at State House with the governors on livestock vaccination. That is where she is," he said.
Speaking during Madaraka Day celebrations in Embu County on Sunday, June 1, Mbarire claimed that some government officials are plotting against her.
She questioned why some government officials were undermining her despite her strong support for Ruto and the current administration.
Mbarire alleged that the government officials held night meetings in Embu to undermine elected leaders in the county.
"You all know that I am the chairperson of the UDA party, and if there’s anyone who has been targeted for supporting the government, it’s me. I have started noticing that some people are plotting against me, and these are people within the very government I fight for every day.
“Those officers from Nairobi who are coming to Embu to hold night meetings to undermine elected leaders, they have no respect and act like they understand Embu politics better than we do, while we are working around the clock to support this government,” she said.
Mbarire also threatened to mention the names of the government officials if they continued plotting against her.
"We are telling them to stop. They know themselves, and if they continue, I will mention them by name. I have been in politics for a long time, so they shouldn’t mess with me. Otherwise, I will speak out,” she added.
