Leaders in Uasin Gishu county have clashed over the creation of new administrative areas and constituencies proposed in the BBI report.
A section of leaders from communities in Eldoret town has come out to back the plan, saying residents of the cosmopolitan town deserve better representation and more government administrative units.
The New Democrats party coordinator in the region Kimani Wanjohi and several other grassroots leaders said members of non-local communities living in Eldoret had for many years been left without proper representation.
The BBI report has proposed three new constituencies in the town, sparking conflicting demands by residents of Eldoret, a town with a population of more than 400,000.
“We fully support the government plan to create more administrative units and new constituencies because for many years we have been left out yet we have a huge population in the town,” Wanjohi said.
He was with representatives of the business community in the town including Andrew Kabaguru, Francis Wachira, politician Peter Maina, Zachary Githaiga, Mercy Njoki, James Mbugua and Jane Wanjohi.
All the six constituencies in the town were created through a mechanism that ensures equal representation.
But a section of youth has complained that they are left out of benefits from programmes like CDF and bursaries because local MPs focus their attention on the rural areas leaving out residents of the town who are mostly non-local.
“We are residents of this town and we can’t be thinking of Eldoret getting city status yet its residents have no representation in so many issues,” Wanjohi said.
He said public participation in the creation of such new units does not imply the involvement of one dominant community but all residents of the town.
Two days ago, Governor Jackson Mandago and a section of leaders in the region wrote to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i opposing the creation of new administrative areas.
Speaking in Moiben, Mandago said as leaders and residents they had not been consulted hence the process must be stopped to allow for consultations and public participation.
He was with a section of leaders from the county including Soy MP Caleb Kostany and MCAs.
The ministry has already posted deputy and assistant county commissioners to some of the new administrative areas created in Eldoret town and other parts of the county.
“Through the Uasin Gishu county commissioner, we have asked that the ongoing creation of new divisions be stopped until those involved come so that we consult,” the governor said.
“As county leaders, we want to put it clear that we were not consulted, let alone the public. For this reason, we have already petitioned CS Matiang'i to stop that exercise”.
He said it was not proper to carry out such changes without public participation involving leaders or residents from any particular area.
“That business of new boundaries should stop. We need to come for a meeting where leaders and the public will agree on the modalities of the new administrative units,” he said.
Uasin Gishu county assembly chief whip David Sing'oei said the public has the right to be consulted on such matters concerning new boundaries.
“The governor and the assembly were not consulted and Uasin Gishu people were left out,” Sing'oei said.
Cheptiret/Kipchamo MCA Gilbert Tenai said Uasin Gishu people must give their opinions on how they want to have the administrative units changed.
UDA politician Jonathan Bii said the IEBC should be allowed to deal with issues touching on all boundaries in the country.
“IEBC should be given space to undertake its duty, then public participation will be held for the people to present their opinions,” he said.
“The exercise by the Ministry of Interior is just illegal and elicits questions,” Bii said.
The Interior Ministry has insisted that the posting of new administrative officers was to enhance security, improve national government services and projects in all parts of the country.
Edited by Henry Makori
