Split Wajir South into Two, Professionals Plead

 

Wajir South Professionals Association (WASPA) has appealed to the two handshake principles President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga to split Wajir South Constituency into Two.

Addressing the media at the constituency headquarters, in Habaswein, the Association Secretary-General  Ahmed Diriye said Wajir South has surpassed the required threshold for it to be split.

They said Wajir South is about 23,000 square kilometers hence larger than Central, Nairobi, and western regions combined and hence should be split into two constituencies.

“Wajir South is 48 per cent of the Wajir county landmass and the second-largest constituency in the republic after North Horr of Marsabit county, exceeding the population variable for it to be split with a population of 290,000 as per the latest census results released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS),” the Association said.

They said the last time the constituency was split was in 1948 when Wajir District then was split into South and North. North has since been split 4 times yet south remains a single Constituency.

They also cited security as another variable that necessitates the constituency be split saying it has a long stretch of 200 Kilometres porous border with war-torn Somalia. Residents of Diff and Dadajbulla have which lies in the borderline have witnessed the loss of lives to the terror group Al Shabaab.

The professionals finally urged the Wajir County residents and Wajir South, in particular, to come out in large number and vote for the proposed constitutional amendments in the upcoming referendum saying it has a lot of gains as compared to the 2010 Constitution.

The counties that will get more representatives are Nairobi (16), Kiambu (6), Nakuru (5), Kilifi (4), Mombasa (3), Machakos (3), Narok (3), Kajiado (3), Bungoma (3), Kwale (2), Meru (2), Trans Nzoia (2), and Uasin Gishu (2). Others are Kakamega (2), Kisumu (2), while Mandera, Embu, Makueni, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Turkana, Laikipia, Kericho, Bomet, Siaya, Homa Bay and Nyamira will get a single addition each.