Kihika, Ngunjiri clash over who to blame for Patel dam disaster

Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika

Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika has told off Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri for defending the owner of the Solai dam.

Ms Kihika questioned why no action was yet to be taken against Mansukh Patel, the chairman of Solai Group of Companies that owns Patel Coffee Estate where the dam is located.

Yesterday, Kihika took to social media expressing dismay at the utterances made by Ngunjiri, who castigated Kihika and members of a Senate committee calling for the arrest of Patel.

“He clearly does not understand the work of a parliamentary committee and though in his second term, he should probably get inducted again,” Kihika wrote on her Facebook page yesterday.

At Wednesday’s funeral service, Ngunjiri went on live television castigating Kihika and members of a Senate team for calling for the dam owner’s arrest.

Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations had early in the week toured Solai to condole with the victims and establish what really happened. When Saturday Standard contacted the two leaders, both defended their positions over the matter.

“I do not want to answer issues published in social media but I want to tell my sister to be careful when commenting on the Solai dam disaster. Some of her utterances may not be helpful to the victims,” said Ngunjiri.

Ngunjiri pleaded with Kihika to let investigators do their work.

But in her response, Kihika said she had done nothing wrong by seeking the intervention of the Senate committee to probe the dam disaster.

“What is he so afraid of by letting an investigation take its course? Wouldn’t that be what any objective leader would want?” the senator posed.

Kihika said she will continue seeking justice for victims of the dam disaster.

“I am not pushing for justice for the victims because of personal reasons. Solai residents voted for me,” she said.