• Two governors want counties allocated more funds for specific flagship projects.
• They urge Uhuru to 'tame' leaders engaging in premature politics.
Each county should receive Sh2 billion for implementation of the Big Four agenda, Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia and his Makueni counterpart Kivutha Kibwana have urged.
Speaking in Ol Joro Orok, Nyandarua, during a fundraiser in aid of AIC Salient Church in Gatimu ward, Kimemia said the national focus should be to ensure devolution works as anticipated in the 2010 Constitution.
He urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to give more funds to counties as "that is where Wanjiku is facing numerous challenges".
“Every county should be granted Sh2 billion for specific flagship projects. The President should then take those projects as his flagship projects in the counties and all of us would have succeeded," he said.
Kibwana said the Big Four agenda will move the country forward but "development should not take shape in Nairobi alone".
“When Kimemia is building a potato processing factory here, in Makueni we have fruit processing. We will be splitting and packaging green grams for sale in the supermarkets, that is the manufacturing pillar which needs to begin in the counties," he said.
He said money should be availed for cottage industries which will graduate to big manufacturers that will attract investors to the devolved units.
Cottage industries, Kibwana said, will create employment for many youths and rescue them from alcohol and drugs where they find themselves due to disillusionment.
He said young Kenyans wallowing in vice only need to be given direction and hope, adding that the Big four agenda is pegged on Vision 2030 and will go on even after Uhuru's tenure elapses.
The two governors urged Uhuru to stop leaders from preaching hatred if the four economic pillars are to succeed.
They told him to 'tame' those engaging in premature 2022 campaigns overtaking development agenda.
Focus should be on uniting the country through various economic blocks to ensure no region is left behind, Kimemia said.
“But when we start fighting and premature politics we shall have lost direction and even God will not forgive us if we don’t help our people," he said.
He said Kenyans need good roads, water, hospitals and employment among other issues, not politics.
The Nyandarua county boss said there are three years to the next general election, "which is a long time in politics and can see the nation achieve 10 per cent economic growth which was targeted by the Jubilee government".
Kibwana told leaders to respect the President and Deputy President William Ruto and help them carry on the development agenda, adding that come 2022, Kenyans will choose leaders based on development track record.
He urged them to let Uhuru and his deputy work for the five years they were elected to serve instead of hurling insults at each other in the hope of inheriting the positions.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)