Wamatangi in push for six extra Kiambu constitiuencies
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi is now demanding that the county be granted six additional constituencies for fairness and equity in the distribution of resources and representation.
In what is expected to spark a political battlefront pitting leaders in densely and sparsely populated regions, the Governorsays that in the upcoming boundary review, he would pitch a strong case to the electoral commission, demanding heavily populated constituencies split.
The County Chief who appears to have revived his one-man-one-vote-one-shilling campaign, noted that Kiambu is justified to have additional electoral areas for fair representation in the National Assembly with a current population of approximately three million people and some constituencies hosting over 500,000 people.
Should the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) agree to the proposal, it will earn the county over Sh2 billion more annually in the Constituency Development Fund and constituency allocations for the construction of roads.
“During the agitation for boundary delineation, we are going to stand very firm as the county of Kiambu because there is no justification that there are constituencies who receive CDF money to the tune of almost Sh140 million, yet they have less than a quarter of the population that we have in some of the constituencies in Kiambu,” the county chief said.
The Governor, who during his ten-year tenure as Kiambu Senator was the face of the one-man-one-vote-one-shilling campaign that saw funding for populated counties increase, is recommending that Ruiru, which has over 800, 000 people, be divided at least in three, creating Ruiru, Githurai and Mwihoko constituencies.
Wamatangi also wants Thika, which has a population of over 500,000 people, to be split into Thika East and Thika West constituencies, while a section of Thika and Juja be curved to establish a second constituency in the vast Juja constituency.
He has also proposed splitting the vast Lari constituency into Upper and Lower Lari constituencies and curving a portion of the Kikuyu and Limuru constituencies to form the Ndeiya constituency.
The last review that created the 290 constituencies was undertaken in February 2012 by Andrew Ligale-chaired the defunct Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission, with each constituency having an average of 133,138 people.
Additional constituencies
The population quota was arrived at after dividing the total population, which was slightly over 38 million in 2009.
With the additional six constituencies, each getting Sh140 million annually in CDF, Wamatangi said the region would attract a further Sh840 million and over Sh1 billion allocated for rural roads and urban roads through KeRRA and KURA.
“If we merge that with the county funds and the monies allocated to the existing constituencies, it will mean that there will be more resources to spur development in our county and ensure that our people are fairly represented,” he added.
The Governor spoke in Ruiru constituency while overseeing the distribution of bursary cheques to Kahawa Sukari, Kahawa Wendani, Gitothua and Biashara wards from the county education kitty.
Wamatangi said to ensure that the county attracts more resources, he established six new municipalities-Githurai, Kabete, Lari, Githunguri, Juja, and Gatundu which will each be getting a conditional grant of Sh300 million annually for infrastructure development from the World Bank. The process was largely guided by the number of people in an area.
Article 89(2) of the Constitution requires the IEBC to undertake delimitation of boundaries between eight to twelve years, and the current exercise, which should conclude by 2024, is to be guided by 2019’s census, which placed the population at 47.5 million people.
Wamatangi asked Mt Kenya leaders to exploit President William Ruto’s goodwill for the region to ensure they tap the gains in his government, including additional constituencies, warning that they will face tough questions on accountability from the people while seeking re-election in 2027.
The Governor said while every elected leader in the region wants to get re-elected in 2027 alongside President Ruto, each of them, including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, will have face-and-answer questions about whether they delivered to warrant re-election.
Ruiru MP Ng’ang’a Kin’gara, whose constituency has 172,088 registered voters as per IEBC, says with the current situation, the people in his constituency have been disenfranchised regarding representation and distribution of national resources.
Ng’ang’a said one MP represents Ruiru, yet some counties, which have voters who are half its number, have a governor, senator, woman rep, and two MPs. When allocating resources, he only gets Sh100 million to cater to the education and security needs of over half a million people.
For example, he said Lamu County has a population of 143,920 according to the 2019 population census and has two constituencies -Lamu East and Lamu West, which have 22,258 and 121 662 people, respectively.
The Constitution demands that the population of a constituency must be higher or lower than its quota by 40 percent for cities and sparsely populated areas and 30 percent for other regions.
