Migori governor Okoth Obado. Photo/the-star.co.ke
A land ownership row between Migori governor Okoth Obado and the local diocese has emerged as a result a Catholic Church that has confirmed that they were authors and distributors of the leaflets that have escalated the fued. Homa Bay Diocese Bishop Philip Anyolo on Wednesday said they were “obliged to tell their members in the 38 parishes the status of the church projects in the region”.“The Catholic community must know how their funds were spent and the challenges encountered,” he said. The Diocese covers Homa Bay and Migori counties.In addition the Bishop said “The governor should not read malice in this move because this is a normal activity within the church".The leaflets are being distributed to the more than 100,000 members in Migori’s eight sub-counties.The documents give details on the land ownership feud between the county and the Catholic church, dating back to 2014.They were distributed by officials who accused the county government of grabbing land belonging to the Church.The leaflets were dropped at the various parishes for the Catholic faithful and the public. The leaflets were first distributed to the faithful in the eight sub-counties last Sunday.Mr Obado, however, dismissed the leaflets and said the leaflets were “materials calculated to taint his image ahead of the polls so as to lose his seat and my supporters should reject this scheme”.He also added “It’s wrong for some church leaders to author and distribute leaflets to smear my name, with only two weeks to elections".