Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga faced heavy criticism from MPs on Wednesday due to his recent remarks suggesting development exclusion based on 2022 voting patterns. The MPs, led by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah, emphasized that development is a right for the entire nation, irrespective of voting patterns in general elections.
They warned that the governor’s self-centered stance could potentially divide the country.
“When a government is elected it is never elected to serve those who voted for them,” Ichung’wah said.
“It is parochial, retrogressive, undemocratic and archaic to claim that other regions do not deserve development. This approach sets one region against the rest of the nation,” he added on X.
Speaking at a church service last weekend, Governor Kahiga said the Western region was getting more funding for development projects compared to Central region despite having given fewer votes to President Ruto.
“We have Sh9 billion in Nyeri, calculations show that Nyeri alone gave the president 272,507 votes. He got three million votes countrywide. These people in Western Murkomen you have given Sh17 billion gave you 600,000 votes. Can we get what is rightfully for Nyeri,” he said.
Governor Mutahi Kahiga alleged a shift in the government’s allocation of development projects, claiming the Western region was being favored. He also criticized the decision to write off debts owed by sugar millers in Western Kenya.
In response, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah refuted these claims, stating that the governor was misinformed. Ichung’wah clarified that 90 percent of the sugar firms benefiting from the debt waiver are in Nyanza, with only Mumias and Nzoia located in the Western region.
“Respect other communities…appreciate that sugar cane farmers in Kenya deserve debt waivers just like coffee farmers deserve the coffee waiver that we have given them in this budget and previous budgets.”
“The debt waiver was never sanctioned by the Executive, it is this House and therefore what the governor of Nyeri was doing was casting aspersions on our constitutional mandate,” the Majority leader said.
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa called for the censure of the governor for making utterances that are against national values and interests.
“Anybody who makes utterances that appear to divide this country along how people voted, the tribal lines, those are grounds for impeachment,” he said.
“It’s clear true that that man is not fit to hold office and I want to call upon the EACC to begin the process of removing him from office because every Kenyan requires development.
Wherever you come from in this country is not a criminal offence,” he added.
“Grounds for removing him ought to have begun yesterday.”
Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said it was unbelievable to listen to Governor Kahiga castigate the government for extending development to Kenyans.
He said Kahiga must be called to order for attempting to divide the country along tribal lines.
“And if for sure he is pursuing some agenda which we don’t know, then that agenda is contrary to national interest and the Constitution.”
Mombasa Woman Representative Zamzam Mohamed said Governor Kahiga should not have used the language he chose to use even as he pushed for the development of the region he comes from.
“That was wrong because revenue sharing should be shared equally nationally and if his intention was to defend the deputy president he should not have used those remarks,” she said.
She said the sugar milling firms that received the debt waiver were deserving of the gesture like all other sectors accorded similar treatment.
