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BBI collapse: Kiunjuri now cries foul, says Mt Kenya region has lost 30-40 parliamentary seats

Despite having led a spirited fight against the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), former CS Mwangi Kiunjuri now says Mt Kenya has lost between 30 to 40 new constituencies following the collapse of the initiative.

And Kiunjuri in another twist demanded that the next president must address the issue of unequal representation in Mt Kenya region within the first 100 days in office.

The Court of Appeal stopped the BBI processes on Friday last week after agreeing with the High Court that the process had not followed certain legal processes.

Kiunjuri was speaking in Gichugu constituency in Kirinyaga County where he had been invited by former MP Njogu Barua who is a member of The Service Party (TSP) where Kiunjuri is the party leader.

“On representation, we people from Mt Kenya we have been oppressed, we have millions of votes, but when it comes to representation, when we join parliament we are oppressed. Our job is have many votes but we have no voice in parliament,’’ said Kiunjuri.

Kiunjuri said when BBI was brought it was meant to address the issue of representation but it has been rejected because it had other contentious issues.

“We want that the next president we are electing, must give us an undertaking that in the first 100 days, he will know how to address the problem of representation, either through a referendum or through boundary review, but what we are being denied over 30 to 40 seats from Mt Kenya region we must demand for that so that when we get to parliament we can bargain with our numbers but do not see us as foolish you continue to control us, take our seats and resources.

He repeated his warning to DP William Ruto that he and other party leaders in Mt Kenya region will not dissolve their parties to join United Democratic Alliance (UDA) fronted by Ruto.

Kiunjuri said Mt Kenya will approach the next general election in a united front in form of a coalition of parties.

He said when Mt Kenya region was seeking more funds for counties tanga tanga senators from outside the region did not support the region – and they were able to see their friends and enemies.

“If the time we are looking for more resources from our region, and we have not elected those leaders and they are refusing to give us more money and it is our right, how will they help us when they get positions, so we are saying before we elect anyone, you must tell our people that you will give us our rights,’’ said Kiunjuri.

Kiunjuri’s comment caught observers by surprise considering that he has been one of the leading lights that opposed BBI together with the DP Ruto and his tanga tanga political group.

It is however note-worthy that Kiunjuri has fallen out with the DP after Ruto asked him to fold his party TSP and join UDA as an ordinary members – something that Kiunjuri has flatly refused.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has also refused to bow to pressure to disband his Chama Cha Kazi party and join UDA as an ordinary member and joined a caucus with Kiunjuri and Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua that is seeking for form a coalition for Mt Kenya region.

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