PRESS RELEASE BY LEADERS IN WESTERN KENYA DURING A CONSULTATIVE MEETING IN TRANSNZOIA COUNTY, 4TH JULY 2020
We held closed door consultative meeting in Kitale today as leaders from Western Kenya under the leadership of our principals namely, Hon Musalia Mudavadi and Hon Moses Wetangula.
During the meeting we discussed various issues facing the country and people of Western Kenya which is our considered opinion, must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
We noted with concern that the fight against corruption has been abandoned by the executive and has now been replaced by loyalty pledges. We are seeing those who are alleged to have looted national coffers in mega corruption scandals being sanitized with MWOSHO MMOJA where they are declared WEUPE KAMA PAMBA while petty thieves are hunted to their graves.
The executive has deliberately denied the key institutions charged with the mandate of fighting corruption including the Judiciary, EACC, the DPP and DCIO the much-needed funds and personnel. Months down the line after the names proposed additional judges being presented to the President, they have not been confirmed, leaving a gaping hole in the capacity of the judiciary to truly carry out its mandate.
As a farming community, our concern has been drawn to the systematic manner in which the economy of Western Kenya has been brought on it’s knees. It is our position that in order to get to the root cause of what ails the sugar industry, we need to see a commission of inquiry established. This commission will have the power to summon the powerful in the land and to help us expose the rot, understand the extend of the impact and develop water-tight strategies for turning around the sugar industry for the benefit of our people.
While we laud he idea of writing off debts of the sugar factories, this alone is not enough and in fact could not be seen as an incentive for a few powerful persons to push for privatisation so as to acquire these industries for a song. What these factories need is sufficient capital injection by government in order to implement their turn-around strategies.
Western Kenya is getting about Ksh. 50bn annually for both recurrent and development expenditure. These funds are placed in the hands of the county leadership who must be held accountable on how they have used these funds. For those governors who shall be found to have mismanaged public resources meant to improve the lives of community, they will find no refuge. We urge the county assemblies and the public to the vigilant.
Lastly, we want to announce to all and sundry that their is no leadership vacuum in Western Kenya. As a community we stand firmly behind our Principals, namely Hon Musalia Mudavadi and Hon Moses Wetangula. Whoever wants to deal with us as a community must come through Hon. Musalia Mudavadi and Hon Moses Wetangula. We have mandated these two leaders to reach out to other leaders and other communities and ensure that this time around, we get to field one of our own for Presidency and form government.
Thank you, signed.
