By Andanje Wakhungu
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Deputy Secretary Ruth Kulundu has called on the State to initiate the process of appointing new Commissioners to replace those whose terms expired. The officer said the stalemate witnessed in handling boundaries in various parts of the country was caused by the lack of commissioners in office.
The Deputy Secretary said this while addressing the media at Friends Tande secondary school during their Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week. We should have new Commissioners in office by 2024 to resolve the boundary issue that includes Malava being subdivided into two to pave the way for another new constituency.
She also called on the locals to stop fighting over the names of a new constituency and instead focus on how to benefit from the new administrative areas once they are in place. “We are aware, there is a standoff involving the names of the new constituency and I want to call on all of you to come out in large numbers when the commission starts its works and give out your views on which names you would prefer instead of waging unnecessary wars within yourselves, you will only losing focus”.
Despite the name, she continued, be aware that with the coming of the constituency more resources, job opportunities and wealth creation will be readily available to the locals and that is what you should be embracing, instead of political bickering.
She confirmed that according to the 2009 census Malava was densely populated and needs to be subdivided since it has 7 wards, unlike other sub-counties with only 4. On education, she called for equal opportunities to be given to both girl and boy child education and urged parents to embrace fee payment of the girl child as most of them were treated as second chances.
