Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:15:32
by Jeff Otieno, Freelance Journalist, Kisumu

     
Kisumu Town East newly elected legislator Shakeel Ahmed Shabbir has been challenged by a cross section of his constituents to ensure that he fulfills his last year’s election pledge where he promised to part with half of his package for the purposes of development.
   
Speaking to the press in Kisumu under the banner Kisumu Town East Professional caucus the group appealed to the MP to disclose modalities of how the promised package will be known to have salvaged the said downtrodden in terms of audit.
   
“As it stands it sounds a little bit vague because no layman will know that there’s a fulfillment of the pledge on the part of the MP,” they noted in a terse statement.
   
During the hotly contested campaigns last year, Shakeel repeated the vow on various podiums.  Since then, however, doubts have emerged that there could be some complacency on the part of the legislator, a claim we could not immediately establish at the time of going to press because the MP’s phone lines remained off the better part of the day.
   
Early this week, during a luncheon for local journalists in one of the Kisumu hotels, the MP was noncommittal when one of the journalists confronted him to shade light on the matter.
   
Meanwhile, the long-serving Kisumu District Commissioner Mr. Jamleck Baruga has been transferred to Nairobi as Deputy Provincial Commissioner. Baruga, according to sources in Nairobi, could be replaced by Mr. Oleserian, a Thika District Commissioner.
   
Two years ago, Baruga’s transfer was revoked following his parallel studies at the Maseno University.  He has since graduated. 
   
   
END