Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga Thursday stoked the differences with his deputy Caroline Karugu, accusing her of absconding duty.
Kahiga told Mt Kenya TV that his deputy has not been participating in the running of the county and has instead "been busy doing other things".
The county chief said his deputy stopped reporting to the office and it has been a while since he last saw her.
“The deputy governor is not involved in government at all. She is busy doing other things. She is just our deputy governor by name (but) we never see her. She never comes to work,” Kahiga said.
He said Karugu has been focusing more on agitating for executive powers for her fellow deputy governors and the deputy president.
“I see her on social media and moving from one television station to the other agitating for executive powers for deputy governors,” Kahiga said.
The governor said deputies should vie for governorship and presidency if they want executive powers.
Kahiga said he served as deputy governor under the late Governor Wahome Gakuru for three months, and he always arrived in the office before his boss and waited to be assigned duties.
He, however, said it has been impossible to assign Karugu any duty as she is an absentee deputy, and "I can’t go looking for her".
Karugu, he said, should be helping him fulfil his agenda for Nyeri given that he is the one who nominated her.
“She might be behaving that way because she was not given the mandate directly by the people. But for me, I was directly elected together with the late governor Wahome Gakuru, and so I have the responsibility to serve the people,” he said.
But Karugu said on Inooro TV on Wednesday that she has been serving Nyeri people by going to the grassroots instead of waiting for them in her office.
She said many of those whom she serves cannot afford to travel to the county hall offices in Nyeri town.
The deputy governor has been leading a cancer awareness campaign that has seen thousands of people tested for breast, cervical and prostate cancer.
She complained that she always spent most of her time idling, drinking tea and reading newspapers when she reported to her office, which she said has been the case for many deputy governors.
The biggest assignments deputy governors are given, she said, are to attend burials or to console bereaved families.
Karugu said most governors have not been delegating to their deputies for fear that they may take the advantage to popularise themselves.
She has been saying that deputy governors and the deputy president earn hefty salaries for idling in office.
Karugu, who is the chair of deputy governors’ forum, is now pushing for portfolios for deputy president and deputy governors.
She was earlier quoted as saying that each deputy governor earns Sh740,000 per month. This amounts to over Sh400 million per year and about Sh2 billion over five years for all deputy governors.
“A total of Sh2 billion is paid to people who do nothing for five years. Deputy governors are now doing charitable activities so that they have functions to do. A deputy president should also be a minister or Cabinet secretary,” Karugu said.
“We want a deputy governor to be in charge of a docket like Health. The money paid to one county executive committee member could be saved and this will go a long way in reducing the wage bill.”
According to the Constitution, a deputy governor should deputise the governor in executing her functions. The governor may assign the deputy governor any other responsibility or portfolio as a county executive.
Edited by A.N