Residents of Elgeyo Marakwet have rejected President Uhuru Kenyatta's cancellation of the Sh22.2 billion Kimwarer dam project within the county.
Uhuru cancelled the project last week, after a committee established to evaluate it, found it not viable.
In a petition tabled in Senate by their Senator and Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen on Thursday, the residents termed the move illegal.
The residents want the Senate to nullify the decision, and suspend the president's directive until the petition is heard and determined.
“The decision to establish an ad-hoc technical committee to investigate only two projects out of hundreds of projects across the country, and to use the results of that investigation to deny the people of Elgeyo Marakwet County their rightful share of national development amounts to gross violation of the Constitution," part of the petition was quoted by Standard.
Murkomen, who has taken Uhuru head-on regarding the matter, said allegations that billions of shillings have been lost in a scandal surrounding the dam cannot justify the cancellation.
“I support the petitioners’ arguments because we are not interested in whether money was stolen or not. What we want to know is if a legal process was followed in cancelling the project,” he said.
Tenders for the construction of both Arror and Kimwarer dams had been awarded to Italian firm CMC Di Ravenna, which has since been declared bankrupt.