Bungoma scorecard address a publicity stunt, says Wetang'ula

 

Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula has dismissed Governor Wycliffe Wangamati's State of the County Address as a public relations exercise.

Wetang'ula said if the governor had done enough for the people, he would have no need to advertise it.

"You cannot make a woman pregnant and parade all the villagers to see the pregnancy after three months. In our Luhya customs and traditions, that is an abomination. They will just see it by themselves," the senator said at a funeral in Cheptais in Mt Elgon.  

Wetang'ula told MCAs to check on the governor’s excesses, alleging that a lot of money was being wasted.

For instance, he said, he had campaigned for Sh80 million for the Mt Elgon Subcounty reforestation efforts annually, but nothing was being done.

“Every year, the county government receives Sh80 million to plant trees in this region and I am surprised no single tree has been planted,” he said.    

The senator was reacting to Wangamati’s address on Friday where he outlined some of his administration’s successes.

The event held at Kibabii University in Kanduyi constituency was attended by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and Council of Governors’ chairman Wycliffe Oparanya and several other leaders.

Wangamati said his scholarship programme, health, agriculture and roads network projects had improved the lives of residents.

The county chief said that some 17,636 farmers carried home 10kg of maize seed, 50kg of planting fertiliser and another 50kg of top dressing fertiliser this year, courtesy of the county government's subsidy programme.

“As a result of the subsidy programme, maize harvest per acre has risen from 10 bags in 2017 to 17 bags in 2019,” the governor said.

The governor said maize production has increased from 210,000 tonnes in 2017 to 370,000 in 2018. Another increase was recorded in 2019 when 459,000 tonnes were produced.

Wangamati said the county has helped form 304 new coffee cooperative societies comprising 63,847 farmers and distributed more than three million coffee seeds and seedlings.

In the education sector, the governor lauded his scholarship project saying a total of 1,500 bright but needy students from the county were in top national and extra-county schools across the country.

Some Bungoma residents took to social media after the governor’s address, saying he ought to answer graft queries at the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission.

 Wetang’ula and Wangamati have recently fallen out with each other following a coup over the Ford-Kenya party leadership.

Wangamati supports the faction led by party secretary general and Tongaren MP Simiyu Eseli. The faction declared Kanduyi MP to be the interim party leader and Wetang'ula was allegedly ousted.

But Wetang'ula has stood his ground, dismissing the coup and instead appointing Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa the new Party secretary general.

Wetang’ula has since accused Wangamati of presiding over corruption at the county government.