MP promises to reward pregnant women in his constituency, say more babies more votes

Bumula MP Boniface Otsiula at Ng’oli Secondary School. He advised women in his constituency to stop using the family planning methods and give birth to many children. (PHOTO: TITUS OTEBA/STANDARD)

BUNGOMA: Bumula MP wants women in his constituency to give birth to as many children as possible.

The MP Boniface Otsiula said that his constituency has low population owing to the fact the majority of women are using family planning methods which stops them from giving birth hence the low number of voters.

Speaking at Ng'oli Secondary School over the weekend, Otsiula said the constituency needs enough children who will grow to be voters instead of 'killing' them using family planning methods.

"Our brothers in Central and Rift Valley regions lead in population because majority of them do not use the family planning methods, if we want to lead this nation in future let's avoid using the family planning methods so that they have enough voters that will propel them to statehouse," he claimed.

The legislator promised to award any pregnant woman he will meet in his constituency with money as an incentive of motivating them to stop using family planning methods.

"We could have been given a constituency long time ago but it delayed because of the low population, the law states that for an area to be given a constituency it should be having a population of 200,000 people but then we had only 85,000 people in the whole of Bumula 15 years ago which was a great set back," said Otsiula.

He said that if Western region had a high population they could bargain for a senior slot in the national government owing to their numbers but having few people is a disadvantage to the region.

"Having enough numbers ensures that we enjoy the government resources allocation compared to other counties and therefore we should strive to have a bigger population that can give us the bargaining power in the national government," he said.

At the same time Otsiula urged locals of Bungoma County to register in large numbers as voters so as to participate in the democratic process of voting best leaders.

"We have been left behind in terms of registering as voters, participate in this process, if we have enough numbers of voters we can bargain for senior slots in the government, let's emulate our brothers in Central and Rift Valley who are currently registering in large numbers compared to us," said Otsiula.