Controversy has rocked a multimillion water project in Nyandarua County that is set to be launched by Deputy President William Ruto on Sunday.
Nyandarua governor Francis Kimemia and Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni are at loggerheads over the implementation of the water project in the MP’s constituency.
The two leaders have announced separate dates when the project will be launched this weekend.
Kioni claims to have invited Deputy President William Ruto to launch the Sh80 million Leshau-Karagoini water project on Sunday.
On the other hand, Governor Kimemia has maintained that he will launch the project that is set to benefit about 5,000 households, a day before the DP saying his launch will be to mark the World Wetlands Day.
Following the standoff, Mr Kioni has accused Governor Kimemia of sabotage saying that it was wrong for him to claim that his administration was behind the funding of project.
According to the lawmaker, the project has all along been funded using NG-CDF money until national government came in.
“The Governor is only sabotaging projects that are carried out by the Jubilee government as it is well known that the national government is funding the project which was previously funded through the national Constituency Development Fund.
“He (the governor) should come out clean and tell us how much his administration has pumped into the project,” demanded Kioni.
He accused the county boss of disrespecting the Deputy President by launching the project a day before the DP launches it.
“It is wrong for the governor to launch the project a day before the Deputy President. This is total disrespect to the DP,” said Mr Kioni on Wednesday morning.
The lawmaker accused the County government of neglecting its roles and instead interfering in national government projects.
“The governor has been boasting of building roads, water and electricity connectivity and yet everyone knows that this has been done by the national government,” said Kioni while poking holes in Governor Kimemia’s score card.
However Governor Kimemia through his spokesman Maxwel Masava defended the planned launch of the project saying that it was only an event to mark the World Wetlands Day.
He said that the move to launch the project was an appreciation of the work being done by the national government and that was why the county government had decided to hold the event there.
“This is not sabotage as is being claimed by some leaders. We are just appreciating the work done by the national government in collaboration with the county government and that is why we want to mark the event there,” Masava said.
By Jesse Mwitwa and Charles Njoroge
