Wamuratha: Involve experts in push for one man, one vote, one shilling

Kiambu Woman Representative has rooted for experts to come up with a formula that will best address the one man, one vote, one shilling, push by Mt Kenya region to best suit the country.

Anne Wamuratha, while speaking on Wednesday in Kiambu during the celebration of World Environment Day, said she does not oppose the idea, but the push must be inclusive of all Kenyans.

"As Mt Kenya region, we must know that there are people from the mountain who are in other counties and we must think of them and not Mt Kenya region alone. All Kenyans should be able to benefit from the formula of distribution of the national cake," Wamuratha said.

She said the push must be handled by experts and put politics aside so as to look into the issue with a sober mind.

"Ruiru constituency which has a big population has been pushing for one man, one shilling a formula that should be handled by experts as Kenya has a lot of learned people. This will help to come up with a system that will equalise all Kenyans so that people from North Eastern do not feel disadvantaged because they did not come from Kiambu and vice versa," she said.

She said there is disunity among Mt Kenya leaders which has been fuelled by infighting and not external forces while everybody is pushing for their personal interests.

"We cannot lie that there is no infighting among leaders from Mt Kenya. This is because some leaders want to pull others down, others want leadership, others want to be the the region's kingpin while others are focusing on succession politics," she said.

She urged the people of Mt Kenya to put their house in order so that they can push for the region's agenda.

"Let us put our house in order whether elected or not as nobody is fighting Mt Kenya the fight is amongst ourselves. There was a time Mt Kenya used to watch as other communities fought amongst themselves now we are the ones in conflict," she said.

Public Service CS Moses Kuria while speaking on Monday in Kiambu town at Kiambu National Polytechnic, said it makes no sense when there is push for the community alone as it is a parochial inwardness.

"The people from Mt Kenya, our salvation, our hope and prosperity for our destiny is spreading out into the rest of the country, integrating into the rest of the country because a region cannot be strong if a nation is weak," Kuria said.

The CS has previously supported calls for allocation of resources based on population including openly rooting for the one man, one shilling.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has championed for the push of allocation of more funds to the counties which are highly populated rather than based on the geographical size. 

Gachagua escalated the push by saying any leader from Mt Kenya who is opposed to the implementation of the one man, one vote, one shilling should be considered a traitor.

Some Meru leaders have however distanced themselves from the push saying it will lead to marginalisation of some counties.

“If we say other areas should not get development, we will be wrong,” Igembe South MP Paul Mwirigi, who led the team, said.

The Meru leaders emphasised their stand on the revenue sharing formula, adding that it is not an act of defiance to the second in command.