Hospital ward MCA Mwangi Wamwangi has lauded Thika sub-county residents for turning out in today’s Kiambu County budget public hearing forum held at Thika community hall.
The residents arrived as early as 9am even before the relevant committee members and officials presiding over the event arrived.
Security personnel were deployed early enough to tame any chaos that might have erupted. Tension remained high among security officers and leaders.
Speaking at the event, Wamwangi said that Thika people have changed from the last year's acts of being incited to protest against anything initiated by the county government and they are now in the know that the participation was for their own good.
“I am pleased by the conduct of the residents today as they haven’t demonstrated nor foiled the meeting as it was feared. The forum is continuing well and I know even other parts of the county will conduct it peacefully,” Wamwangi said.
Contrary to the expectations of many residents, a Juja sub-county meeting held at Senate Hotel in Juja town was foiled when the residents alleged that the MCAs had removed some parts of the budget draft copies to make sure the public did not see the areas where they were being allegedly duped.
Witeithie MCA Peter Muiruri, angered by the move, decided to calm the crowd but the police were forced to spend about an hour trying to calm the crowd.
The meeting later resumed normally after the intervention of budget committee chair Mary Hussein, who is also Kamenu MCA.