Three Parliamentarians from Kirinyaga County have urged Governor, Anne Waiguru to urgently resolve the health crisis in the area or be forced out of office.
The legislators, Gichimu Githinji (Gichugu), Munene Wambugu (Kirinyaga Central) and their Mwea colleague, Kabinga Wachira told the governor she had the option of voluntarily resigning or they will lead the area residents in filing a petition to throw her out of office.
The trio wondered why the governor was taking too long to resolve the crisis which they claimed would have taken less than an hour had Waiguru showed serious commitment into the matter.
“We cannot take it any more as our people continue suffering due to lack of provision of health caused by the failure of the county government including the County Assembly which has abdicated its oversight role,” claimed Wambugu.
In a joint statement to the media in Kerugoya town today the three threatened to start collecting signatures from area residents after which they will file a petition to have Governor Waiguru kicked out of office if the month long medic’s strike is not resolved.
“This is not a laughing matter and the dimension it has assumed must be tamed before it explodes into a disaster at the expense of our people,” warned Wachira.
Wambugu particularly said the stalemate involving the county administration and the health workers is an eyesore and a shame to the entire country.
“This is why we want the governor to arrange for a meeting with all the leaders including professionals from Kirinyaga to resolve outstanding issues,” he said
Wachira said the ACK Bishop, Joseph Kibuchwa should also get involved and invite all the leaders including the governor. “If Waiguru fails to turn up for the meeting, then we shall know that she has no interest in solving the issues at hand,” he added.
But in a swift rejoinder, the County Administration told off the three legislators for making threats instead of coming up with solutions.
Through the Deputy Governor, Peter Ndambiri, the Administration maintained it was doing the best to have the services resumed and blamed the medics of failing to comply with a court order.
“The court declared the strike illegal, we gave the medics a chance to resume work but they declined and decided to continue with their street protests which made us seek to hire others on temporary terms to prevent patients from traveling far to seek for health services,” Ndambiri said.
He also told MPs to stick to their oversight roles and legislation instead of attacking the governor who has her job clearly cut and defined by the Constitution.
The local Anglican Church has also expressed concern over the stalemate between the county administration and the striking medics whose result has been suffering of the area residents.
Bishop Kibucwa said the institution was ready to arbitrate between the governor and the medics for the sake of the people.
“Should our governor wish to engage us as a church to arbitrate on the matter we are more than ready at any given moment,” the Cleric said.
Health services were crippled on April 22 after 346 casual workers were sacked following which medics protested when healthcare facilities became filthy due to lack of cleaners. The protests culminated into the ongoing strike.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Union is seeking to have healthcare services reverted to the national government
By Irungu Mwangi
