Mwingi MP tells locals to get more children so as to benefit from State resources

Mwingi Central MP Gideon Mulyungi has sensationally urged his electorate and Kitui County at large to bear more children in order to ensure they benefit from the proposals in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report once they are enacted into law.

Speaking during a thanksgiving mass for the new Kitui Catholic Diocese Bishop Joseph Mwongela at Mwingi Junior Seminary, Dr Mulyungi said that the BBI report is hinged on a scientific formula with population being the key factor in creating new constituencies. This, he said, is the reason Machakos and Makueni counties are set to get additional constituencies while Kitui gets none.

“The BBI team of experts relied heavily on a population-based formula to allocate the new proposed 70 constituencies, hence what I can urge my people is to produce more babies in order for Kitui to stand a better chanceof benefiting from national resources in  future,” said Dr Mulyungi. 

The legislator urged Mwingi residents to join the BBI signature collection drive and to support the initiative as it brings along other benefits like the proposed increase in county revenue allocation from 15 per cent to 35 per cent.

“Despite not getting a new constituency from the (proposed) 70, I urge my people to support the BBI signature drive,” the MP said.

Support Kalonzo

Dr Mulyungi said that there is no way he can go against his Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka who strongly supports President Uhuru Kenyatta’s development agenda and the BBI initiative.

His Mwingi West counterpart Charles Nguna said that Kitui is disadvantaged in the allocation of new constituencies, adding that there is still time for further negotiations to secure at least one additional constituency for the county.

“We will continue negotiating to see if we can get at least an extra constituency, even if we don’t get Mwingi County as we had suggested to the BBI taskforce,” said Mr Nguna.

He said the formula used to allocate the proposed constituencies was unfair since it relied on the latest census, claiming that many residents of Kitui County were enumerated as residents of other counties like Nairobi.

“Next time, people should be told to go and be counted from home during census. Most of our people, including me, were enumerated in Nairobi County, hence giving the county an added advantage of getting the highest chunk of the 70 new proposed constituencies,” he said.

He urged residents to support the BBI initiative as further negotiations are made to ensure Kitui County benefits fully.