- Kahiga said the Western region was getting more development funding compared to Central region despite having given less votes to President Ruto.
- The governor alleged that there was a shift in how the government was allocating development projects where Western region was being favoured.
Image: DPPS
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga on Wednesday came under heavy criticism from MPs following his recent remarks that bordered on advocacy for development exclusion of some regions on account of their 2022 voting patterns.
Led by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah, the MPs said development is the entire nation's right regardless of voting patterns in general elections and the self-centeredness pushed by the Nyeri governor risks dividing the country.
“When a government is elected it is never elected to serve those who voted for them,” Ichung’wah said.
"It is parochial, retrogressive, undemocratic and archaic to claim that other regions do not deserve development. This approach sets one region against the rest of the nation," he added on X.
Speaking at a church service last weekend, Governor Kahiga said the Western region was getting more funding for development projects compared to Central region despite having given fewer votes to President Ruto.
“We have Sh9 billion in Nyeri, calculations show that Nyeri alone gave the president 272,507 votes. He got three million votes countrywide. These people in Western Murkomen you have given Sh17 billion gave you 600,000 votes. Can we get what is rightfully for Nyeri,” he said.
The governor alleged that there was a shift in how the government was allocating development projects where the Western region was being favoured.
Kahiga also took issue with the government’s decision to write off debts owed by sugar millers in the Western Kenya region.
In response, Ichung’wah said the governor was speaking from a point of misinformation as 90 per cent of the sugar firms that will benefit from the waiver are in Nyanza.
Only Mumias and Nzoia are in Western, he said.
“Respect other communities…appreciate that sugar cane farmers in Kenya deserve debt waivers just like coffee farmers deserve the coffee waiver that we have given them in this budget and previous budgets."
“The debt waiver was never sanctioned by the Executive, it is this House and therefore what the governor of Nyeri was doing was casting aspersions on our constitutional mandate,” the Majority leader said.
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa called for the censure of the governor for making utterances that are against national values and interests.
“Anybody who makes utterances that appear to divide this country along how people voted, the tribal lines, those are grounds for impeachment,” he said.
“It’s clear true that that man is not fit to hold office and I want to call upon the EACC to begin the process of removing him from office because every Kenyan requires development. Wherever you come from in this country is not a criminal offence,” he added.
“Grounds for removing him ought to have begun yesterday.”
Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said it was unbelievable to listen to Governor Kahiga castigate the government for extending development to Kenyans.
He said Kahiga must be called to order for attempting to divide the country along tribal lines.
“And if for sure he is pursuing some agenda which we don’t know, then that agenda is contrary to national interest and the Constitution.”
Mombasa Woman Representative Zamzam Mohamed said Governor Kahiga should not have used the language he chose to use even as he pushed for the development of the region he comes from.
“That was wrong because revenue sharing should be shared equally nationally and if his intention was to defend the deputy president he should not have used those remarks,” she said.
She said the sugar milling firms that received the debt waiver were deserving of the gesture like all other sectors accorded similar treatment.