ODM secretary General Mr Ababu Namwamba has hit at Jubilee government over a planned parallel referendum which he termed as ‘a copy paste’ of opposition planned plebiscite.
Jubilee legislators on Thursday had revealed that the government was in the process of coming with a parallel referendum that will see increased allocation of resources to the county government, which is a leading tool for CORD’s plans.
Speaking on Friday at Chepilat Township in Nyamira County, Namwamba said the move was unlikely to unsettle opposition’s plans of a referendum after they forwarded authenticated signatures to the IEBC.
“Our friends have seen that we have valid concerns for our people and that is why they are panicking with an introduction of a similar plan. We are not ready to see them hijack our plans and we can win this war with your backing,” Namwamba said.
He urged members of the county assembly to support opposition’s proposal and wondered why the government was unable to release funds to the counties and then pretend to be working towards increasing the resources.
“We have seen many counties go through difficulties in receiving funds from the national government and it’s therefore laughable that they are now trying to hijack our plans. The referendum was CORD’s plans and we want to urge our MCAs to stand firm with us,” he said.
He said the planned 46 per cent allocation increase by Jubilee and another 5 per cent allocation to proposed ward development kitty was the idea of the opposition and insisted that they will not succumb to the new suggestions.
“They have proposed 46 per cent while we proposed 45 per cent allocation to counties and also copy pasted our proposed 5 per cent ward development kitty. This shows that they have nothing to offer,” he said.