Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday came face to face with a disgruntled crowd in Elburgon during a harambee for the construction of a dormitory at Elburgon Secondary School.
A group of residents said the Jubilee government had left them hungry after a ‘blanket ban’ on logging.
Speakers at the function asked a crowd why it was not cheerful despite the DP's visit to the area.
Hower, the crowd unexpectedly responded to this query with "njaa! Njaa!" chants.
Kikuyu legislator Kimani Ichung’wa intervened and pleaded on behalf of the disillusioned residents to Ruto.
“When I look at you especially this crowd, I see you are hungry. And as the shouts are saying, you are hungry because logging was banned. His Excellency the Deputy President, these people are hungry because they have no jobs,” Kikuyu MP said.
He added: “And because you have fought corruption and there is no more corruption in logging, please make arrangements on how legal logging can continue in order to give our people jobs.”
Gitonga Gachua, a renowned saw miller from Elburgon, said there was ‘collective punishment’ after mistakes were made in other areas.
“His excellency please, bring back our jobs. These people are hungry; even if you tell them harambee they will tell you njaa!! I know some bad things were done in the forest, but please do not punish a whole town because of the mistakes that were done in Nairobi,” Gitonga said.
The DP, however, said the environment must be conserved and therefore logging has to be done carefully.
“We will sit down with conservationists and stakeholders and see the way forward on the issue of logging. We want to ensure that we conserve our environment,” he said.
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