The residents of South Kabras led by their MCA Josephat Wakukha, former MCA Samson Tali, Mary Chiluyi and activist Tom Mwanje among other opinion leaders led a delegation to the Assistant County Commissioner’s office but failed to reach her before moving to the Deputy County Commissioners officer in Malava where they also found her to be away from official duty
By Andanje Wakhungu
Just two days after the demarcation of the Malava constituency, two splinter groups have emerged opposing the local leadership led by MP Malulu Injendi, West Kabras MCA David Ndakwa and the national government administration led by the DCC for hijacking and deciding how the whole process should be handled and ignoring public participation guidelines.
The demonstrators led by various leaders drawn from South Kabras accused the two Amani National Congress leaders of turning the whole process into a one-party affair that saw the MP proposing the split of the boundaries and names with the MCA seconding his proposal against the wishes of the people. “We want to tell the MCA and Mr Injendi that the boundaries issue is not an ANC party affair but a multi-party issue that needs all stakeholders to be involved. What we are seeing here is the ANC party leading from the front to decide where the boundary should pass and what name to be given to the new sub county and yet we are the people on the ground who should decide and directly be involved. That is why we are against today’s (16th May 2023) meeting at Samitsi and the naming of Shikutse as the headquarters. We will not attend the meeting until the DCC listens to our grievances and comes up with a neutral ground where the meeting should be held because already there are reports of bribery by the MCA at the venue prior to the meeting to see to it that most of the attendees vote in favour of his decision.”
The residents of South Kabras led by their MCA Josephat Wakukha, former MCA Samson Tali, Mary Chiluyi and activist Tom Mwanje among other opinion leaders led a delegation to the Assistant County Commissioner’s office but failed to reach her before moving to the Deputy County Commissioners officer in Malava where they also found her to be away from official duty. “We have come here seeking the DCC’s intervention on the matters headquarter and we have been forced to accept the sub county Name of Kabras West where the residents wanted Kabras South and North sub counties and not East and West.”
The team which is opposing the recent splitting of the constituency and further proposal by the MCA Ndakwa to have Kabras West sub-county headquarters stationed at his backyard (Shikutse) maintained that Ingavira was better placed to be the Kabras West sub-county considering its infrastructure and visibility. The MCA further threatened that if the Samitsi meeting will take place they will boycott due to security reasons and will take necessary actions possible to seek justice.
At the same time, the Abashu council of elders who were also having a private meeting in the Samitsi area also said to have been attacked and their meeting disrupted by people believed to have been sent by the South Kabras MCA. Talking to the press, one of the clan official Titus Vutiya said they were against the whole idea starting from the start after the whole process was one-sided favouring ANC leaders with some of their preferred candidates whom they opted to support to lead the sub-county in the next general elections were deliberately locked out of the region to pave way for the sitting MCA to have an ample time campaigning as the next MP.
“Let the politicians and administration keep off and leave the whole affair to us as we are the bonafide residents who know where the boundaries should be and which resources headquarters should be placed and we will only attend to tomorrow meeting if they change venue as our security I at risk.” Vutiya further pointed out that the memorandum by the four groups led by Interfaith, Kabras council of elders, on how the demarcation and name of the new sub-county but their proposal was discarded in favour of the one that leaders consulted and agreed to come up with supporting ANC leadership from within.
“There was no public participation as the public were not given time to air out their views and hence it was aimed at elevating Ndakwa as the next Kabras West Mp and he has been campaigning dishing out fund to support his bid to have Shikutse as the headquarters delete the sub county having 11 sub tribes with elders who have a rich history of the region but were left out”
