Kuria residents back law change to get own county

Many people in Kuria, Migori County, including politicians, are looking forward to amendment of the Constitution.

They hope they will bag a county of their own, if the changes are made.

This is the latest bid to have their voice heard, they say, after feeling disappointed in the elective seats of Migori County.

In the county, Deputy Governor Nelson Mwita is the most senior politician from Kuria community after a 2013 negotiated democracy arrangement between Luos and Kurias broke down last year.

PROJECTS

Now the politicians led by Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama, claim the Kuria community is poorly represented in the Migori County government and that the entire Kuria region has been sidelined in terms of development hence the need to amend the constitution to have a new county.

“We are supporting a referendum that will enable the Kuria community have its own county. We are consistently sidelined in Migori County and yet we are no longer a minority,” said Mr Kitayama, who was speaking during Madaraka Day celebrations in Kuria East.

The MP claimed the local county government has not shown commitment to initiating development projects in Kuria since the inception of devolution.

“The county government cannot show us any development projects it has initiated in our region, yet our people pay taxes like other Kenyans,” Mr Kitayama said.

He added: “The state of roads in the region is pathetic, there are no drugs in hospitals, people do not have clean water and there is lack of support for farmers. Why do we say we have a county?”

The politicians argue that Kuria community has enough numbers to form a county contrary to the thinking of many. They say that the recent creation of two more sub-counties in the region bringing the number to four, is a clear indication that the region should have a county.

In Kuria though, the problem is more than political.

OPPOSITION

First, its two constituencies, Kuria West and Kuria East, gave overwhelming support to the Jubilee party in the last General Election, in a county that predominantly supports the opposition, specifically the Orange Democratic Movement.

In fact, when most of Luo Nyanza refused to vote during the repeat presidential poll, Kuria residents participated in the election.

The two constituencies jointly have 12 wards and the deputy governor is a native of Kuria East.

In 2013, locals had some deal where seats were distributed among various communities residing in Migori.

The governor seat went to Mr Okoth Obado, his deputy was Mr Mwita and the Senator was Wilfred Machage from Kuria.

But, with party rivalries between Jubilee and Nasa during the 2017 polls, that arrangement collapsed as politicians argued everyone should compete.

In an interview with Nation, Water and Energy CEC member Rebecca Ghati Maroa, who hails from Kuria East sub-county said that besides employing  people from her community, Migori County government has initiated a number of projects.

“These projects include drilling of boreholes, lighting of market centres, distribution of seeds to farmers and building of ECDE centres in most of the wards. The county is also in the process of repairing road network in the region,” said Ms Maroa.

Other projects that Ms Maroa cited include, Kuku ni Pesa project  that was launched in 2015 by the county government, which has helped over 400 groups of residents to start poultry farming.

On political representation, Ms Maroa said that Kuria community is well represented at the county with a deputy governor’s post, three CEC members, several directors of departments,  chief officers among other positions.

“We need to be honest. The community is well represented and the county government has rolled out a number of projects,” she said.

In August 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the creation of Mabera and Ntimaru sub-counties to add on to Kuria East and Kuria West.

The president said the new sub-counties would bring services closer to the people.

“It is not a question of numbers because we have enough. The fact that we have four sub-counties shows that we are ready to have our very own county,” said Kuria West MP Mathias Nyambabe Robi.

“If Lamu with a population of 101,539 has a county with only two sub-counties, why would Kuria which has close to the same population and has four sub counties with over 15 wards fail to have a county? We are clearly justified in our quest to have a county,” Mr Robi added.

Nyabasi West Ward Representative Mwita Bageni said that the skewed distribution of resources by the county government of Migori has seen it hard for Kuria region to receive development.

“What we are seeing in Migori County is outright discrimination as distribution of county resources is skewed to the disadvantage of Kuria,” said Mr Bageni

He added: “Governor Obado thinks that dishing a few county positions to the Kuria community is enough. The ones who have been appointed are not even allowed to initiate development in our region because they are serving the whims of the governor.”

Three of the ten County Executive Committee members in Migori come from the Kuria community. Scores of members of the community have been appointed to various county positions including directors, heads of department and chief officers.

Veteran politician and former Migori Senator Machage says that Kuria region will be better off outside Migori county.

“Kuria will never be developed unless it is out of Migori County. Because of its political affiliation as a region that always gravitates towards the government, the county government with a Luo majority that supports opposition, will always side line the region,” said Mr Machage, adding that the community will not relent in the push for its own county.

Machage wa recently nominated to be Ambassador and his posting awaits Kenya’s planned creation of new embassies.

In 2017, Alan Chacha filed a petition in Parliament in which he advocated for the Kuria to be recognised as a marginalised community in “safeguarding the rights of the minorities and marginalised groups as provided for in the constitution of the republic of Kenya.”

Mr Chacha, a lawyer, stated in the petition that the Constitution allows the minority community to declare their separation if they are sidelined from the larger Migori County.

He further highlighted that the community was seeking protection from the majority Luos who have been using their numbers for “tyranny against the Kuria community.”

He accused the majority Luo community of locking them out in the last election by having the governor, woman representative, senator and speaker.

“As a community, we are afraid we will be assimilated by the Luo and in next two decades, we won’t exist. Already members of Kuria community living along the border with Luo are assimilated,” Mr Chacha stated.

The petition has however never been discussed in the parliament and the two MPs from the region have vowed to push for it.

ODM leader Raila Odinga, who has since closed political ranks with president Uhuru Kenyatta, has renewed calls for constitutional amendment to change the system of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary one. The Jubilee party politicians have strongly opposed the referendum calls.