Taita Taveta County Women Representative Lydia Haika has warned residents in the county against signing the petition for dissolution of the county government saying all dispute-resolution mechanism have not been exhausted.
Speaking to the congregation at a Full Gospel Church in Voi town during a fundraising on Sunday, the outspoken women representative claimed the process of dissolving the county government will be time consuming and work against development.
She added that other counties will continue enjoying development as they will carry on with their projects.
“If the petition forms will reach the office of the president, he will form a tribunal which will investigate the reasons why Taita Taveta County Government should be dissolved. If the reasons given will be baseless, we will be asked to come back and dialogue. The whole process will be a waste of time,” she said.
Ms. Haika added that as a leader, she is opposed to Governor Granton Samboja’s decision to dissolve the county government stating that there are still various options of unlocking the impasse to reach an agreement.
“We have not exhausted all available options to resolve our issues. This county has people who can bring us together. We have church leaders, Imams and elders who can bring us together,” she added.
She warned that the consequences for dissolving the county government were severe and called for sobriety as she urged the residents to scrutinise the reasons of dissolving the county government.
She also cautioned the residents against getting dragged into the politics between the County Assembly and the Executive noting that the common citizens will be biggest casualty.
Haika’s caution comes a week after Governor Granton Samboja initiated the process of dissolving the county government after budget impasse with Members of County Assembly (MCAs).
Samboja accused MCAs of allocating themselves over sh800 million as Ward Equalisation Fund and leaving the executive with negligible development budget.
He said he cannot carry out meaningful development with the County Assembly sharing almost all the development vote of sh5.3 billion 2019/2020 budget.
“The best thing to do is to dissolve this county government and allow residents vote in new leaders,” said the governor.
Religious leaders led by ACK Bishop Liversen Mng’onda has appealed to both the executive and the county assembly to talk and address the contentious issues for the sake of the county.
He has met the MCAs and officials from the executive in a bid to resolve the row.
“The dissolution of county government is not in our best interest. Let us talk and find a solution to whatever is ailing us,” he said.
By Edith Munyao
