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There is disbelief, dismay and anger across Kitui county as it dawns on residents of this vast county that
they are not going to benefit from the Building Bridges Initiative proposed parliamentary seats. While other counties and regions are already celebrating the good news that they are going to the proud recipients of new constituencies which the proponents of BBI say will mean more funds being channeled
to the people, Kitui residents have nothing to smile about in BBI. Given that the people of Central Kenya, which will have over 30 of the 70 new constituencies, are being told that even if there is nothing else good they can see in the BBI report the new constituencies are enough for them to vote for the report, the people of Kitui wonder what is there in the report for them to vote yes for.
Ironically, two of the most vocal proponents Kalonzo Musyoka and Charity Ngilu come from Kitui county. It is against this background that the two have raised eyebrows in their backyard as residents ask loudly why they are being told to vote for the report when they see nothing in it for them. What makes the matter such a sore thumb being the fact that during the collection of views by the BBI taskforce, the people of Kitui had asked that, apart from new constituencies, they also have their county split to form Kitui and Mwingi counties. At the end, they did not even get an extra civic ward.
Charity Ngilu
What is however making this even more painful to the people of Kitui is that the people of Kiambu county which is the home of Uhuru Kenyatta are going to get a whopping seven extra constituencies but they are threatening to shoot down BBI unless they get more goodies. Yet the people of Ukambani whose three counties are going to get only four new constituencies are being told to support the document. Machakos will have three while Makueni gets one. According to those who are not ready to back the document as it is, all this boils down to selfishness on the part of Kalonzo and Ngilu who have been duped by the designers of the BBI report who are Uhuru and Raila Odinga that they will get big offices if the report is made into law.
This is affirming the view among Kalonzo critics that all that matters to him is what he gets personally and not what the community gets. It is worth noting that Kitui county is bigger than all the Gema counties combined and as such many felt that by this virtue alone it deserved to have some extra constituencies. Because there is no guarantee that the position of deputy prime minister that Kalonzo and Ngilu are promised by their respective sides will go to them, Kambas are worried that they will end up shortchanged should they vote yes. The two are all eyeing the positions with Kalonzo hoping that the camp that Uhuru will throw his weight behind will have him get the position of deputy president or deputy prime minister while Ngilu is hoping that the wing in which Raila will be in will have her designated deputy president or deputy prime minister.
Enoch Wambua
Indeed, only last week, Ngilu was invited by Raila to a late breakfast that was served at nearly midday. Although they had been invited for breakfast and actually arrived at Raila’s Karen home in the morning, as has become the normal with him, it was only after 11am that “Raila loaded” enough wakefulness to be of any coherent conversation. It is said that on some days, Raila’s wakefulness “loads” up to only 60pc the whole day. Indeed, those who have visited Raila since his Covid-19 attack say that the man is a shadow of his former self and that talking to him is a task akin to holding a conversation with your senile grandfather as you have to give him time to recollect his thoughts as you are made to keep on repeating what you are saying.
Occasionally, you are required to allow Raila have a nap after which he wakes up and you have to start from where you started from the beginning. Indeed, many will have realised that the statements that are now being issued from Raila are different in their manner of writing and this is attributed to the fact that it is not Raila who dictates them but are done by his wife Ida, daughter Winnie or his spokesman Dennis Onyango. A clear case was the last week’s mother’s day in which the language used was too casual to emanate from an old man like Raila. The message on Facebook has a picture of a 20 something-years-old woman and read “My mother passed away while I was in detention. I was formally informed about it two months after her demise. My mother like the millions of others was special and unique. Just like mother earth, they make the world a better place; they love us unconditionally, and oh man they can multi-task.
Edith Nyenze
Its mother’s day. I single out single mums today. Happy mother’s day!” Many said that this was not Raila’s language and that it must have been done by someone too young probably his daughter. With a Raila now evidently on the other side of the hill, it is seen as a miscalculation by Ngilu to throw her lot with Raila. Not that where Kalonzo is edging his bets is seen as promising either. Those in the know say that anyone whom Uhuru will point as his anointed person will not have any backing from Kikuyus because Kikuyus do not want to have anything to do with Uhuru.
It is waited to be seen if Uhuru will step outside of State House to campaign for the BBI. Ever since he was re-elected, Uhuru has been to Central only a handful times and this is in highly choreographed functions where he has not come into contact with the people not that the people have been eager to see him. It also will be interesting to see how Kalonzo and Ngilu will sell BBI in Ukambani. Although going by the high number of Kamba MPs who voted yes, it seems like the region is backing BBI, matters on the ground are different. In fact, it is said that the reason the MPs were so much in support of the document in parliament was that everyone who voted yes was receiving Sh200,000 from Amos Kimunya but only after they had voted. Those who voted yes in Ukambani were Kilome’s Thadeus Nzambia, Makueni’s Daniel Maanzo, Kibwezi East’s Jessica Mbalu, Kathiani’s Robert Mbui, Mavoko’s Patrick Makau, Mbooni’s John Kivasu, Kaiti’s Joshua Kimilu, Kitui West’s Edith Nyenze, Yatta’s Charles Kilonzo.
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