Senator Enoch Wambua has vowed to oppose constitutional changes proposed in the BBI recommendations, only if they will include the split of the vast Kitui to create Mwingi county.
Wambua said it was imprudent to increase political leadership positions through constitutional changes and fail to create Mwingi county to ensure better service delivery to the people.
“I have no problem with the Constitution being amended. But if it will create leadership seats like the positions of prime minister and deputy prime minister, there is no justification why we cannot have a new Mwingi county,” Wambua said on the phone on Monday.
He noted that occupying an area of 30,496 km2 and with a population of over 1.2 million people, it is a Herculean task to effectively coordinate development in Kitui county. He said that Kitui county is bigger than Rwanda whose area was 26,338 km2.
“President Paul Kagame of Rwanda covers a much less area administering an entire country than the many more kilometres I cover as I attend to the needs of the people of Kitui county as the senator,” he said.
He said local leaders had made the proposal to the BBI team.
Early this year during a BBI public rally in Kitui town, Ukambani residents demanded that the expansive Kitui county be split into two for better service delivery.
The proposal was contained in a memorandum to the Building Bridges Initiative Task Force read out at the Kitui Stadium BBI rally by Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
The memorandum envisages allocation of more state resources and services is the new county is created.