Irungu Kang’ata: I will not withdraw BBI letter

Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata has said he will not withdraw the controversial letter despite the pilling pressure to do so.

Kang’ata said the letter was meant to give an insight on the uptake of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in the Central Kenya region, but it has been turned into a political weapon against him.

Speaking at AICPA church in Gitugi, Mathioya, Murang’a county, he said he is being crucified for being candid and telling the truth to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He said the move was not meant to show disrespect to the Head of State but to tell him the reality on the ground.

“I wrote this letter after getting a lot of complaints from the locals who said they don’t understand what is entailed in the BBI report and this ought to have been an eye opener,” said Irungu Kang’ata.

“I should not be admonished for telling the truth because telling lies will not help either,” he added.

The senator for Murang’a said he has since faced a lot of criticism from leaders who he said are being untrue to the president and they want to please help him with sugar coated lies.

He said it is time the leaders face the reality and work together to address the issues being raised by the people from this region.

Most of the people, he said wanted their issues in the agriculture sector addressed before the campaign for referendum is done.

“Leaders from this region know how the situation on the ground is but the are giving it a blind eye and telling a different narrative which is more damaging,” remarked the senator.

Kang’ata claimed he had received threats to take his Senate leadership position but he said that will not make him change his stand. In an earlier TV interview, Kang’ata said Jubilee was planning to remove him from Senate leadership from August.

“There are those who said I should be arrested and others calling me names because they feel I didn’t do the right thing,” he said.

“The truth will eventually come out and we shall tell who was right or wrong on this matter,” he added.

He said he had held several negotiations with the Head of State on various issues, most of which have since been fixed.

“If I saw something wrong somewhere I would alert the President and it is rectified. The BBI is not different” he remarked.

Additional reporting by Njange Maina.