Kisii county Governor Ongwae, had to look for vegetable vendors, popularly known as mama mboga, to fill up the empty spaces after residents skipping the celebration organised by the county.
Pictures circulating on social media showed empty seats which would be later filled by the guard of honour that the county boss inspected before the commencement of the celebration.
The other large part of the seats was occupied by the county staff.
A Kisii town based businessman, Otwoma Clinton said he can't go to the stadium to listen to governor Ongwae make false promises again.
"Governor Ongwae has a tendency of revisiting the projects he promised us since he took office in 2013. Where is the avocado factory he promised? I can't leave my business and go waste my time at the stadium," he said
Susan Akinyi a hairdresser says joining the governor at the stadium could have been an honour to the country but she feels cheated.
"There is nothing new we are going to get at the stadium except the governor mentioning the very things he has been 'singing' since 2013.
"He will talk of kilometres of a road he has done, bursaries to kids and ECDE yet other counties like Makueni have tangible evidence on devolution. Look at their factories, hospitals, even Kakamega has done tremendously well unlike Kisii county," she said.
In a rather hasty state to salvage the image of the county, county communications director took to his Facebook page to dismiss photos earlier posted by the Nation Media as not representing the actual numbers at the stadium.
#hivisasaoriginal