Makueni County residents launch plan to send leaders home

Makueni Wiper Chairman Francis Mailu, shows the ‘Okoa Makueni’ signature booklet at the launch of a campaign to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county government. [PHOTO: ONESMUS NZIOKA/STANDARD]

Makueni, Kenya: In an unprecedented move, Makueni County residents have launched a campaign to have their government and the assembly dissolved.

They started collecting signatures to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the government and pave way for fresh election. This follows protracted wrangles between the county executive and the assembly.

Dubbed “Operation Okoa Makueni”, the campaign was launched at Unoa Stadium, Wote town in the presence of Governor Kivutha Kibwana and his deputy, Adelina Mwau.

The charged residents drawn from the county's six constituencies resolved to have the county government dissolved forthwith.

Prof Kibwana had earlier taken the residents through a chronology of events that have made it difficult for him to work with a section of the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs).

He accused the MCAs of frustrating his government by failing to pass the budget and doing things against the law.

“The MCAs do not follow the law. This is a destruction assembly where MCAs have turned the House into a business hub,” he said amid cheers from the crowd.

He enumerated his frustrations in the hands of the MCAs whom he accused of always pulling issues the opposite direction.

"Their work is oversight, legislation and representation but they want to usurp the role of the executive of implementation,” he added.

Kibwana said the ward reps had refused to pass the 2014/2015 budget after he refused to approve their demand of Sh913 million instead of the Sh356 million ceiling set by the Controller of Budget.

The law requires that in pushing for the dissolution of a county government, the petition to the President must be accompanied with at least ten per cent support from the registered voters in the region.

Makueini has 298,221 registered voters. This means the petition requires the support of 29,822 registered voters to be accepted.

The President is then required to within 14 days table the petition before the summit popularly known as Council of Governors (CoG) for consideration.

Should CoG adopt the petition, then the President shall proceed to dissolve it. The governor led the crowd in supporting the 'Pesa Mashinani' campaign.