Makueni petition lands at Office of the President

What you need to know:

  • The dissolution bid comes in the wake of an unending row between the County Assembly and Governor Kivuthta Kibwana.
  • The more than 1,000 delegates camped outside Harambee House in Nairobi, which houses the Office of the President, singing, dancing and waving placards.
  • Their placards bore messages pleading with President Uhuru Kenyatta to “do justice to the county” by allowing them to go for fresh elections and choose leaders who are ready to serve them.

Makueni residents Friday inched closer to dissolving their county government when they handed over a petition to Office of the President.

The residents who arrived at Uhuru Park in a convoy of 78 buses, said they were exercising their constitutional right to remove a disfunctional county government.

The dissolution bid comes in the wake of an unending row between the County Assembly and Governor Kivutha Kibwana.

The more than 1,000 delegates camped outside Harambee House in Nairobi, which houses the Office of the President, singing, dancing and waving placards.

Their placards bore messages pleading with President Uhuru Kenyatta to “do justice to the county” by allowing them to go for fresh elections and choose leaders who are ready to serve them.

The Director of Administration at OP Joseph Irungu received the petition on behalf of President Kenyatta.

Addressing the group after meeting the representatives, Mr Irungu said they would “soon hear from the President”.

“I have a copy of your petition with me. Your leaders will go back with a copy and I want to assure you that the President will get this copy and you will definitely hear from him,” he said.

Mr Francis Mailu, the group’s chairman, expressed confidence the President would act on their petition.

“We will wait for 14 days after which, by law, we shall have to come back here to know why the county government cannot be dissolved,” he said at Uhuru Park, where the residents had retreated after presenting their petition at OP.