• The former governor said the Deputy President failed to secure the region's interests, leaving it exposed in the Kenya Kwanza government.
• Wa Iria said lack of a signed agreement between the region and the President has made it difficult for local leaders to push for local interests.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA
The row between former Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is simmering over the kingship of the Mt Kenya region.
Wa Iria has reiterated that leadership of the Kenya Kwanza government in the region has continued to suppress residents from fighting for their interests just months after the new government took over.
The former governor said the Kenya Kwanza leaders from the region have failed residents as they did not sign agreements with the coalition leaders to have local needs prioritised.
The Deputy President, Wa Iria said, has on several occasions told Kenyans that the region did not sign any written deal with the alliance headed by President William Ruto.
This failure, he said, has left the region exposed as other regions that signed such agreements push for their interests.
He cited the Western region that, he said, has managed to push for senior government positions while Mt Kenya region leaders entered into a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’.
Wa Iria said, the Kenya Kwanza outfit led by the President held numerous economic forums in the region with the aim of collecting views on resident's needs.
Residents’ input, he said, was to be consolidated into an agreement that was to be signed by the alliance leaders for prioritisation if they took over the government.
“These people have openly betrayed us. Where did they take our people’s views? Those were the voices of people and they were promised that they would be heeded,” he said.
“Other regions are benefiting. Ruto asked all regions to present their memorandums but our leaders said they are gentlemen and declined to present theirs.”
The same leaders who let locals’ down, Wa Iria said, are now promising to start pushing for challenges facing Mt Kenya residents.
Wa Iria said he will now start taking locals’ views afresh to highlight the things that they want done to improve their lives, especially in the agriculture sector.
“Locals had asked the Kenya Kwanza leaders to consider pushing prices of coffee up to Sh200 per kilogramme and Sh70 for a litre of milk.”
He said they also wanted the 32 taxes imposed on tea reduced to boost farmers’ returns.
“If the taxes levied on tea and coffee were removed, the returns farmers get would double,” Wa Iria said.
Last month, Wa Iria announced he would be contesting for the position of the kingpin of the region against who is being touted by many leaders.
He said since the exit of former President Uhuru Kenyatta as the kingpin, the region has been left bare without anybody to fight for residents' interests.
(Edited by V. Graham)