Ruiru MP Simon King'ara wants his constituency split into two or his education bursary allocation increased, saying he has been overwhelmed by the huge number of learners in need of support.
He said Ruiru, with a population of over 500,000 residents and more than 130,000 learners in various institutions, always gets overwhelmed while distributing the funds.
The 2019 census showed Ruiru constituency had 490,120 residents.
Speaking while distributing bursaries worth Sh75 million to some 21,000 learners, King'ara said getting the same bursary allocations with far less populated constituencies was unfair to his constituents.
He said poverty levels are also high and many children miss school due to lack of fees.
He said the challenge spreads across Mt Kenya constituencies and thus the need to speak in one voice to have allocations in those areas increased according to population.
"Ruiru is the equivalent of two or three constituencies in other areas, yet we get equal bursary and NG-CDF allocations, it's time to change this trend. Either it is divided or the allocation doubled," King'ara said.
He said although the amount was the highest ever given out, it left out many more would-be beneficiaries out of the total 115,000 bursary applicants.
"This is unfair to the over 95,000 learners who missed out on the bursaries. How will they fund their education? Some will probably drop out yet in some constituencies, learners get full scholarships up to the university," he said.
About two months ago, the constituency was in the news when a man from Githurai subcounty died during a stampede on a queue by parents to get bursary application forms.
Parents too called for fairness in allocation or distribution of resources saying they always get a raw deal despite the region contributing more in revenue to the government.
"Some learners from densely populated areas in Central Kenya are frequently sent home for lack of school fees when others are supported up to university level through government bursaries. A time has come for the government to rethink its resource allocation method to ensure fairness and equity," said Daniel Ndegwa, a parent.
In the Building Bridges Initiative proposal that was quashed by the courts, there were plans to have Ruiru subdivided into Ruiru and Githurai constituencies.
