‘Irreconcilable differences’ with Waiguru push MCAs to risky gamble

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 15 Jul, 2020 12:00 | 2 mins read
Anne Waiguru
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru. PHOTO | COURTESY
Governor Anne Waiguru at the Kagio parking which has been turned into an open-air market amid Covid-19 pandemic. PHOTO | COURTESY

Ward representatives in Kirinyaga have now started collecting signatures in a bid to disolve the county government.

The ward reps said that they are targeting 100,000 signatures to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county and send all elected leaders home.

Kirinyaga County Assembly Majority Leader Kamau Murango said that they will collect 1,500 signatures in each ward in a bid to get the 30,000 legal threshold.

At a press briefing in the County Assembly building on Tuesday, the MCAs said that they are prepared to go home to allow a fresh election.

"We are ready to go home as a sacrifice to bring sanity in this county. We can't continue earning and yet we are not delivering our mandate as per our promises to our electorates, " said Murango.

Flanked by over 20 MCAs, both elected and nominated, Murango said that they will not back down until Governor Anne Waiguru is sent home.

His sentiments were echoed by Mutira Ward MCA David Kinyua Wangui, who claimed that the current differences with the Executive are irreconcilable.

Further, the MCA claimed that they have support in all corners of the county.

"We have irreconcilable differences with the governor and that's why we are saying we must give Kirinyaga people a fresh start. We must get new leadership in this county," he said.

His Baragui ward counterpart David Mathenge said that the governor is misleading Kenyans by claiming that they have diverted money to construct ward offices.

Kirinyaga MCAs and Governor Waiguru have been at loggerheads for over a year, woes the county boss claims are instigated not by the ward reps but by her political detractors.

Waiguru recently survived impeachment after a special Senate team said the grounds on which the MCAs ousted her were unproven and flimsy.

However, after losing at the Senate in their determined bid to impeach Waiguru, the MCAs took the battle to the budget-making process, refusing to pass her proposals.

Instead, the MCAs moved to starve the Executive of cash and reallocated funds to their own projects.