NAIROBIm, Kenya, Jan 10 – Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi is dealing with yet another uprising from Members of County Assembly (MCAs) who claim he is sidelining them from the plans to distribute bursaries in their respective wards.
Wamatangi was accused by the MCAs of appointing committees to handle and distribute the bursaries at the ward level without consulting them.
The 60 elected MCAs from different parties and independents accused the governor of undermining them by utilizing his foundation alias Wamatangi Foundation and his friends to influence the populace.
On Monday morning, the MCAs stormed his office demanding that he expedite the awarding of bursaries so that they might be forwarded to deserving individuals in their wards.
“We have one million shillings for bursaries, millions to construct roads but if you look at our wards, no roads being constructed. When it comes to bursaries, as we speak the bursaries committee in the county has been disbanded,” said Macharia Wambui MCA Limuru East.
“We want to tell the governor to disburse the bursaries according to how it is stated in the constitution.”
They complained about the amount of money handed to them as bursaries without taking into account the number of people living in the wards.
“We have heard he has said MCAs will get sh.50,000 to give people that for every ten people they get sh. 5000. Am asking my ward has about 40,000 people when am given sh. 50,000 bursary who should be given and who should not,” said Kennedy Odhiambo MCA Kahawa Sukari.
They further accused him with of intending to use his foundation to disperse the county’s bursaries and neglecting their requests for him to help them implement development initiatives in their wards.
In order to avoid conflict with the electorate, they urged the governor de link the Wamatangi Foundation from the county activities.
“We have discovered that the governor is using his foundation to reach the grassroots even while distributing maize for planting, which is undermining the elected MCAs,” Riabai MCA Hezron Gachui said.
“I request the governor to de link the Wamatangi Foundation from the activities of the county government, de link please,” said Lawrence Mwaura, MCA Ting’ang’a
They now want the governor to say whether he will take their complaints seriously or if they will have to use more forceful tactics to obtain his attention.
“We want the governor to come we seat down so he can tell us how we can do our work, we can’t wait again the county to experience issues and we have the governor,” said Grace Wanjiru Hinga MCA Kabete.
