- Wambua said Katse Recruitment Centre need to be reinstated and a date given for this year's KDF recruitment exercise in Kitui.
- He said merging Mumoni and Tharaka recruitment centres denies the youth of Kitui County opportunities for recruitment to KDF.
Image: FILE
The Ministry of Defence has been put on the spot for leaving out Mumoni subcounty in Kitui from the list of Kenya Defence Force recruitment centres in the forthcoming enlisting.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, while making a statement in the House, said emotions are running high in the subcounty because of “the unfortunate omission.”
“For many years, Mumoni youths have been recruited to join our national disciplined forces at Katse Primary School in Katse town. However, to the dismay of Kitui residents, Mumoni subcounty has been left out in the list of recruitment centres,” he stated.
He noted that in 2017, a new subcounty called Tharaka Thagicu was created, administratively hived off from Mumoni subcounty.
He said the people of Tharaka have been marginalised for a long time and needed to access government services closer to home and not compete for opportunities with counterparts in Mumoni.
“Requiring the youths from Mumoni and Tharaka to compete for the same opportunities at Nthangani would be rendering the entire effort of creating a new sub-county and exercise in futility,” he explained.
Wambua said merging the two recruitment centres denies the youth of Kitui County opportunities for recruitment to KDF.
“I spent a greater part of my formative years as a child and youth in the army barracks when my father served in the then Kenya Army before he retired into the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a responsible leader and would be the last person to unnecessarily politicise the recruitment exercise by the KDF,” he stated.
Wambua said he has consulted the office of the Kitui County Commissioner, including the county commissioner Erastus Mbui.
“I have personally but unsuccessfully attempted to get in touch with the Cabinet Secretary of Defence, Adan Duale. I pray that he shall find time to return my call,” he claimed.
Wambua said Katse Recruitment Centre need to be reinstated and a date given for this year's KDF recruitment exercise in Kitui.