DISCRIMINATION in Development Projects & Public Appointments: Mythical Tyranny of Numbers
The construction of a 26 Km road which straddles Murang’a & Nyeri Counties commenced by H.E. Mwai Kibaki in September 2007 stalled sometimes in FY 2012/13 leaving a stretch of 7 km undone. The 7 Km stretch is virtually impassable rendering the whole road useless. This road reduces the distance between Nyeri & Murang’a Towns by a whopping 30 km and has a 4 km detour to Sagana Town in Kirinyaga. It is a vital link for dairy, coffee & horticultural farmers in parts of Nyeri South & Murang’a North. In June/July 2013 residents of the area protested and the Jubilee government mobilised a new contractor to the site who did some minor earthworks before abandoning the project again in mid 2014. A lot of farmers & businesspeople have incurred massive losses since the road stalled. An investor who had bought 25 acres of land for a recreational park/camping site along the road abandoned the whole idea in December 2013. At a personal level I was forced to sell 11 dairy animals in 2013 and abandon an irrigation/horticulture project in August 2014 since the additional distance of 28m to Kagio/Mwea where we sourced cattle feed (rice husks) and Murang’a Town where the market for horticultural produce was, rendering the projects uneconomical & unprofitable. Over 10 people lost their jobs and I had to sell a mini-truck and a pick-up to cut further losses.
In Mathioya Sub-County bordering Nyeri County, the Murang’a-Gitugi-Mioro a 50km road project commenced by Mwai Kibaki in 2012 has also stalled reducing many businesses to shells. You are free to add all other stalled projects in Mt. Kenya Region to this post.
Today the President is going to Kiambu to launch new road projects. It is alright, but are the people of Nyeri & Murang’a children of a lesser god? Do their voices & votes matter? It is quite obvious that the President is OPENLY discriminating against the people of Murang'a & Nyeri. When he visits Nyeri or Murang’a he does not speak to the residents but only takes the politicians to Sagana State Lodge for sumptuous food and political lectures. This hostility and open discrimination in public appointments & development projects against some parts of Central Kenya is unacceptable, or even unforgivable. The peasants and their offspring are taking note and some are threatening not to vote next year and they surely & truly miss Mzee Mwai Kibaki. Let those benefiting from the regime; court jesters & bootlickers continue lying & singing vain praises to the Prince and dreaming about the tyranny of numbers; 16 months to elections, mtashangaa!
Consistency is better than intensity