Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya now says that he has no beef or any dispute with Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with TV47’s Abubakar Abdullahi, CS Oparanya said that he was a very busy man in his current Cabinet role to start beefing with Governor Barasa.

“What is there in Kakamega for me to be involved? There is enough work for me as a Cabinet Secretary. I have nothing to do with Kakamega,” Oparanya said in the interview conducted on Monday, September 22 night.

Nonetheless, Oparanya — who served as Kakamega County Governor from 2013 to 2022 — says that perhaps his huge political stature and excellence service delivery during his tenure in the country is making some local leaders uncomfortable.

“Sometimes when they see me around, it is just like waves and they start to panic….they see waves.”

And when asked if there is a fallout between him and Governor Barasa, Oparanya clarified that he has no business with him, insisting that they are not rivals. The only relationship he has with Barasa, Oparanya says, is that he is the governor of his home county.

“There is no fallout between me and Governor Fernandes Barasa. I have no business with him, we are not rivals. The only relationship I have with Barasa is that he is serving me as my governor. As long as he is doing development for me I am okay. That is my county, where I will retire, when I am dead that is where I will be buried,” he added.

Reports of a possible fall-out between CS Oparanya and Governor Barasa started after the former was said to be supporting a faction of politicians who wanted Lugari Member of Parliament Nabii Nabwera to be the ODM Chairperson in the county. Governor Barasa was, however, declared winner in an ODM grassroots election held recently.

The Nabwera-led camp has contested the results of the party elections, bearing in mind that opposing delegates had failed to agree on a specific voting modality.