Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu has criticised his Kitui counterpart Charity Ngilu over the burning of a lorry ferrying charcoal. Waititu said Ngilu should not incite the public to take the law into their own hands.
“No person should order people’s property to be destroyed. Ngilu should be arrested,” he told charcoal dealers in Kiambu. They protested outside his office in Kiambu town yesterday. The governor said leaders in Ukambani should not create feuds between them and the county.
“Leaders fuelling hatred should stop.”
Ngilu has denied the claims.
Waititu said he will include the Council of Governors in efforts to address the issue of the burned lorry and trucks impounded in Kitui. He said Ngilu should be reprimanded. The charcoal dealers said trucks owned by the Kikuyu community are being targetted, while those owned by other communities are allowed to ferry the charcoal.
Ngilu denied certain communities are being targetted in the protests against charcoal burning and the sand harvesting business in Kitui. She said the charcoal ban has been in force since 2014 and the county is only enforcing the Kitui County Charcoal Management Act.
She said this followed an increase in the number of people felling trees for charcoal burning. “I met with security agencies and stakeholders and we agreed to stop charcoal harvesting because it is affecting our environment,” the governor said.
The governor further said she is not aware that lorries transporting charcoal were torched in the county. Ngilu said the ban is meant to curb massive destruction of trees and rivers in Kitui, adding that the situation has resulted in poor rainfall.
She asked those in the charcoal trade to find an alternative way to make a living. “Kitui women have to walk long distances to find water because of the trees being felled for charcoal burning.”
Charcoal traders transport an average of 200,000 lorries of charcoal outside Kitui every month. This shows there has been massive destruction of local forests.
“We cannot sit and watch while rogue people continue ruining our environment. We must put an end to charcoal burning and sand harvesting in Kitui county.”
She also affirmed that her administration’s commitment to making the ban a success was irrevocable.
Ngilu spoke after the final hearing of an election petition in which her win is being challenged by former Governor Julius Malombe.
Justice Pauline Nyamweya is expected to issue a verdict on March 2