Outgoing Uasin Gishu governor and the now Senator-elect Jackson Mandago has defended his decision to run for the senatorial seat despite serving the residents of the county as a governor for the last 10 years.
Mandago who spoke in an interview after the declaration of poll results at the county tallying centre in Eldoret said that he made up his mind to run for the seat to support the role of the senate in oversighting government activities on delegated legislation, administration, bills scrutiny and policy implementation.
“For us governors going to the Senate our agenda was to ensure all devolved functions and the funds meant for the same actually move to counties. Funds retained in the Ministries of Agriculture and Lands of the national government that were meant for devolved functions, it is important we ensure all those resources move to the county governments,” said Mandago.
“To oversee the activities of the county governments, ensure county governments have enough budgetary allocation from the national government in order to run development projects effectively and efficiently,” he added.
The incoming Senator who clinched the seat after beating his main competitor Robert Kemei garnered 252,800 votes against 94,785 votes polled by Kemei.
He lauded the people of Uasin Gishu for embracing peace before, during and after elections and promised to work jointly with other elected leaders to promote development in the county.
“It is indeed clear that the citizens of this country have matured politically, they are able to make decisions independently without quarrelling with one another,” he said.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
