Politics derail constituencies review in the Rift Valley

By Vincent Bartoo and Vitalis Kimutai

By virtue of the number of registered voters, Eldoret North is one of the largest constituencies.

It has over 146,000 registered voters, most of whom voted overwhelmingly for ODM. The area MP William Ruto has more political clout in Rift Valley.

Recently, Ruto who is also Agriculture Minister hosted Nithi MP Japheth Kareke whose constituency also produced the highest votes for PNU presidential candidate Mwai Kibaki.

"My constituency produced over 70,000 votes for Raila and Kareke’s produced about 100,000 votes for Kibaki," joked Ruto.

Coincidentally, Kareke is Ruto’s deputy. But underneath this casual admission of the huge size of the constituency lies a major problem of under representation.

Calls for the split of the constituency spin over a decade. Among early proponents of boundary review were former area MP, the late William Saina.

Another former area MP, Reuben Chesire, took on the review debate. Chesire led proponents of the split to a chaotic Electoral Commission meeting at the Eldoret Town Hall on May 17, 2005.

His group, proposing an Eldoret Town constituency, was not given a hearing as they were booed.

"We had genuine reasons but they were misconstrued to mean we wanted a town constituency to be headed by an outsider," he recalls.

His group, he says, just wanted a manageable electoral area.

"Eldoret town and its environs had been neglected in terms of allocation of devolved funds such as bursary since MPs only concentrated their attention to rural areas. We just wanted a fair representation," he says.

Political turn

But these views were rejected as the agenda of the meeting took a political dimension and turned into a supremacy war between supporters of bitter political rivals Ruto and Chesire.

Speaking to The Standard on Sunday, Chesire regrets the dimension the meeting took, saying it ignored the constituents’ interests.

"The push for an additional constituency in the then Uasin Gishu District where Eldoret North was situated was not expedited," he says.

Uasin Gishu has since been divided into three districts, Eldoret West, Wareng and

Chepkoilel while the constituency boundaries remain the same.

"It was seen as a Chesire affair and thus was shelved. But the people are now suffering due to under representation," he said.

Chesire says though the constituency receives one of the highest allocations of Constituency Development Fund there is nothing to show for it.

"We receive Sh60 million annually but it cannot be seen because among other issues, the constituency is huge," he says.

A former parliamentary aspirant for Eldoret North, Kipkorir arap Menjo, was among those who drafted proposals to split the constituency.

"We have two major divisions, Soy and Turbo, which people thought should have been divided," he says.

Menjo says attempts to discuss the issues failed in 1996 and 2005.

"This issue has been long overdue and the people of Eldoret North continue to suffer from lack of adequate service delivery," he says.

Menjo concurs with Chesire that after the matter was politicised in 2005, it slowed down prospects of the speedy implementation of the split.

"The work was almost done. The proposals of wananchi were clearly articulated before ECK and can even be acted upon now," he says.

Ruto says he has been calling for speedy review of the Constitution saying it would among others deal with the issue of electoral representation.

New constitution

The minister regrets lack of will and commitment by some of the country’s leaders to urgently give Kenyans a new constitution.

"Our people are suffering due to such problems as inequality in resource distribution yet we are sitting pretty procrastinating over this matter (constitution)," he says.

His allies led by CDF Chairman, Isaac Maiyo; say the problem of under representation does not lie with the size of the constituency.

‘The problem has been the single district (Uasin Gishu) that was serving three constituencies," he says.

Other constituencies include Eldoret South and East.

Eldoret East and South constituencies each have an average of about 60,000 registered voters, double the number of Eldoret North.

Maiyo is confident splitting Uasin Gishu District into three would help improve service delivery to the people of Eldoret North.

"I agree our CDF resources do not adequately meet the needs of all constituents but we have tried our best," he says.

Maiyo says creation of new districts would help devolve other funds like the Local Authority Transfer Fund to supplement the CDF kitty.

Mr Jonathan Bii, who was Ruto’s main challenger in last year’s polls, says a split is inevitable.

He said leaders would continue pushing for its implementation before the 2012 General Election.

"The situation is so bad that constituents, especially those at the borders have to rely on neighbouring constituencies for services," he claims.

Hunt for Votes

He says it is almost impossible for a political aspirant to cover the whole constituency in search of votes.

"You need a lot of resources to do that because some areas are inaccessible due to poor roads," he says.

South Rift residents say the boundary review is long over due. The region consists of Kipkelion, Kilgoris, Bomet and Sotik constituencies.

In the proposed review of constituency boundaries, Kipkelion and Kilgoris are the largest and the likely priority for split.

Mr Magerer Langat (ODM) represents Kipkelion in Parliament while former Immigration Minister Gideon Konchella (PNU) is the Kilgoris MP.

It is believed splitting Kiplgoris constituency would help end perennial tussle for leadership and clashes between the Kipsigis and the Maasai.

The Kipsigis are regarded a settler group while the Maasai insist they are the natives.

In the last General Election, violence broke out during tallying of votes at Kilgoris County Council Hall when it emerged UDM’s Johanna Ng’eno was leading in the votes counted against PNU’s Konchella and Kanu’s Julius Sunkuli.

Consequently, the tallying was suspended and a repeat poll called after arsonists burned down a store in which election documents had been kept.

A fight between the communities broke out before and after the by-election that followed.

Most Maasais rallied behind one candidate while the Kipsigis largely backed Ng’eno of ODM.

Konchella won the by-election, ending vicious attacks in the constituency.

"The locals believe splitting Kilgoris constituency, would end the clashes which are politically motivated," Ng’eno says.

He says although the skirmishes were basically due to land disputes and cattle rustling, external forces were to blame; especially politicians keen on intimidating the Kipsigis.

Trans Mara District Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) executive secretary Joseph Kitur says the split of the constituency is long overdue.

Long overdue

"Creating another constituency should have been done a couple of years ago. It will help unite people and develop the area," he says.

Kitur says local leaders had proposed to ECK that the constituency be split as it was too big for single MP representation, adding Government resources were not trickling down to some regions.

Mzee Joseph Kores, an elder agrees, saying there was consensus among leaders of various communities that another constituency be created.

"We have repeatedly endorsed the splitting of the constituency during leaders’ meetings and we do not understand why it has not been done," he says.

The Kipsigis who migrated to the area around 1908 are said to outnumber the Maasai who sold most of the land to them.

ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu is on record, saying Kipkelion, Bomet and Sotik had been prioritised for review of the boundaries.

Speaking in Bomet town two years ago, Kivuitu said Kipkelion was a vast area, which had been earmarked for a split.

"Kipkelion should be given priority when it comes to reviewing constituency boundaries in the South Rift," says Councilor Kiprono Chumo.

Chumo, the longest serving councillor in Kipkelion says local leaders were unanimous on the issue.

Mr William Kikwai, also a councilor says constituents were disappointed when the split was delayed.

"We do not expect to go to the next General Election as one constituency, the changes should be effected to the benefit of the locals," he says.

In Bomet constituency, residents of Bomet Central division, which is densely populated, have over the years yearned to have their own constituency.

Historically, MPs from the region have been from Longisa division for more than 30 years.

The constituency has 80,163 registered voters.

Only the first MP, the late Joseph Kiprono Chumo is from Bomet Central division.

Mr Samuel Maina, a politician, says residents of the upper region of the constituency, have written proposals to ECK for the creation of a new constituency.

"We have got the required numbers and infrastructure to have a constituency in the upper zone popularly known as Emgwen. We do not understand why ECK has to take too long to split the constituency," he says.

New district

A boundary problem that faced Sotik constituency in past election seems to have been resolved with elevation of the area into a district, late last year.

Some locations were administered in Bureti District while the constituency was in Bomet. Sotik has registered 64,727 voters.

Former area MP Anthony Kimetto was perhaps the only MP to serve less than two DC (Bomet and Bureti).

Sotik Town Council Chairman John Koech says: "Though we have a district, we feel the constituency should be split to ease administrative issues and focus on development.