Former Rarieda MP Nicolas Gumbo has poked holes into the development records of governors from the Nyanza region who instead blame the national government for marginalising the region.
In response to an article by Vincent Okoth, the former legislator said that the national government is not to be blamed for underdevelopment in the region, but rather governors.
He accused the 4 Nyanza governors of misusing close to KSh 150 billion sent from the national government in the last 9 years.
“So the (Okoth) Obados, the (Cyprian) Awitis, the (Anyang’) Nyongos & the (Cornel) Rasangas of this world still want to blame the central government in Nairobi for lack of a single fish-processing plant in our four counties nine years after devolution?” Gumbo posed in an article that has gone viral on social media.
According to Gumbo, the governors have also appointed illiterate persons to be their advisors and also head major functions in the counties thus not making matter not any better in terms of the development of the region.
“How does ‘marginalization’ come in when semi-literate ex-coucillors, who can barely read & write Dholuo, great grandfathers who served in the ’70s/80s, & are now almost 80 years old are being employed as ‘advisers’ to the governors, merely on account of gossip, sycophancy & cheer-leading, to earn hundreds of thousands as ‘allowances’ every month, while our university graduates, some with masters degrees, have to eke out a living as boda-boda riders?”
Gumbo said that the most affected sector in the County is Education. He gave an example of a bright student who lacked school fees to join a prestigious national school, her plea to an unamed governor fell on deaf ears.
The former legislator pointed out one of the governors who has built a Ksh 200 million mansion at his village but is surrounded by muddy roads and grass-thatched houses.
“We would be engaging in a cheap, white lie and total hogwash to suggest it’s the Central government that has stopped Okoth Obado, Cyprian Awiti, Anyang’ Nyong’o & Cornel Rasanga from putting up sparkling, state-of-the-art Level 6 hospitals, the same way Ambetsa Oparanya )Kakamega), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) etc have done,” Gumbo went on.
Early this week, President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga were in Nyanza region where they launched multiple projects.
In one of the events, Uhuru told residents that they were reaping the benefits of the handshake. His statement sparked speculations that he was only launching projects to seal his relationship with Raila.
Would this have been the case if Raila Odinga was still in the opposition?
Critics have question if Nyanza region would get all those projects launched if there was no handshake between Raila and Uhuru.
