NO MWINGI COUNTY, NO BBI

Residents of the larger Mwingi region of Kitui County have expressed their desire to have their own county saying if the government doesn’t factor that in its BBI plans, then they will not support the BBI.

Speaking to Mwingi Times on Tuesday, the Mwingi voiced their disappointments with elected leaders for not championing the calls to have Mwingi declared a county.

Boniface Mutambu comes from Kisovo village in Mwingi West Sub County. “I am one of those rejecting BBI. I will be happy to see Mwingi County and working in the county”, he said amid cheers from his fellow villagers.

Ms Mueni Kilonzo, a Mbangwani resident (Katse) echoed Mr Mutambu’s demands with a clarion call that Without Mwingi County, No BBI. Her sentiments were met with another round of cheers from the crowd who chorused: Isyaana (That is enough)

Demands

Muthui Musyoka, said his MP Eng Paul Nzengu aka Malili had failed them by not championing their demands. “I come from Kivangwa in Mwingi North. I wonder where Malili went after we elected him. We are talking about county and they are talking about staying in the National Assembly. So, they are not helping us”

Simon Mutai Musili, a Ngomeni resident in Mwingi North said that as an opinion shaper in Mwingi, the region qualifies to be a county and should be made as such if they are to support the handshake document which came to being after a truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga was reached following disputed 2017 polls.

Sammy Nzoka comes from Mwingi Central Sub County and lives in Mwingi town. He also echoed the calls to establish Mwingi County.

From a Vox Pop compiled by our team, it is clear that calls to have Mwingi County come from all its sub counties.

Mwingi region has over 400,000 residents. There are counties in Kenya which are smaller in terms of population than Mwingi, residents say and are supported by 2019 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) census report. 

STORY by MUSYOKA NGUI