An activist who has filed a petition challenging the legality of the Kakamega Lake Region Economic Bloc Act 2018 has denied claims by governor Wycliffe Oparanya that he is being used by Deputy President William Ruto or his allies to delay the bloc activities.
Boniface Manda, the chairman of Bunge la Uhaki, Usawa na Maendeleo, a human rights lobby, yesterday said that he and his co-petitioner Musa Ekaya went to court on their own to safeguard justice for the people of Kakamega.
Manda and Ekaya have filed a petition in the High Court seeking a declaration that the Act was unconstitutional since it was enacted without being subjected to public participation as required by the constitution.
Oparanya on Thursday said that those who went to court last week were sponsored by a group of MPs from Western, allied to the DP, to try and delay establishment of the proposed regional bank by the bloc so they can launch theirs’ first to exploit western residents economically.
“You investigate and you will find out what I am telling you to be true,” he said.
But yesterday Manda said that his organisation was not opposed to the bloc and its programmes.
“We have read and understood what the constitution says about public participation in all government programmes. It is parochial for a person of the governor’s caliber to allege that we are daft and must be instructed by some other people to act on what is open,” he said.
Manda said he only wants Oparanya to avoid using shortcuts and follow the law.