Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Bungoma County Women Representative Catherine Wambilianga has termed the latest entrant into the county MP’s race as an attention-seeker with no agenda for the common mwananchi. The second-term Sitikho ward MCA Grace Sundukwa has announced plans to unseat the incumbent Woman MP come 2027.

Speaking to journalists in Bumula on Sunday, Sundukwa rallied residents to back her ambition to become County Woman rep. Both Sundukwa and Wambilianga are members of the Ford Kenya party, with the latter now serving her second term.

Sundukwa also accused Wambilianga of using the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) to only sponsor youth tournaments in the county instead of more serious ventures. She called on Wambilianga to retire from politics saying the MP had outlived her usefulness.

 “This position needs a young person who can traverse the entire county supporting women groups and I’m equal to the task,” Sundukwa asserted.

Wambilianga has also faced criticism from the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), which have asked her to surrender or vacate the idle Ndengelwa Gender-Based Violence (GBV) centre. The CSOs blame her for turning the centre into personal property.

Fuelling propaganda

When contacted, Wambilianga said the CSOs have no mandate to ask her to surrender the centre, as it was owned by the county NGAAF.

“Those fuelling propaganda that I am using the centre as my office are lying. In that compound we have two buildings, the one serving as my office belongs to the National Housing Corporation while the storey house is the GBV centre,” she noted.

She explained that the centre has remained dormant for many years due to lack of funding from the county government.

“We have tried reaching out to the county government but they have not responded,” she said, noting that among the staff needed at the centre include two medical officers, two security guards and professional counsellors.

 “Because the centre lacks funding and there is no staff, I have people at my office who are offering these on a voluntary basis where they reach out to GBV victims and offer mentorship,” she explained.