[Kisii leaders in a past campaign rally. They now want voters to reject Jubilee administration. Photo/Nation]
Kisii County residents have been urged to vote for Nasa in order to reverse the harsh economic climate bedeviling the country.
ODM leaders yesterday made the appeal as they took their campaigns to Bonchari Constituency.
Governor James Ongwae said the region would reject Jubilee at the polls, saying the people were tired of false promises given by the government.
“We are yet to see the tarmac roads and milk coolers that the president and deputy president have been repeatedly promising our people whenever they visit this county. Our people are tired of Jubilee and are ready to send the regime packing at the August polls,” said the governor.
He said the Nyacheki Ward by-election was a clear demonstration that Kisii County is an ODM zone, adding that no amount of campaigns by Jubilee would sway the voters into supporting it.
“Despite all the noise being made by a few Jubilee campaigners in the region, the majority of voters are firmly behind Nasa and they will elect Raila Odinga as the president come August 8,” he said.
He appealed to residents not to be convinced by Jubilee’s high-powered campaigns in the area, saying Nasa was the only outfit capable of rescuing the country from its current economic woes.
The governor expressed confidence in his reelection bid, saying he had done a commendable job as the county’s pioneer governor.
“Anyone that has read and understood the constitution will agree that I have accomplished a lot as the county’s first governor. We have made tremendous strides in provision of health care, infrastructure improvement and the expansion of ECD facilities in the education sector,” said Mr Ongwae.
He said the development projects initiated by his administration had not been seen in the region in over 55 years of independence, saying his governorship rival Senator Chris Obure had nothing of value to offer the people.
“My opponent is an old man who has been in elected office and other government positions for over 40 years but has no tangible development projects to show for his time in power. He has nothing for voters except propaganda and greed for power,” said Mr Ongwae.
Senatorial aspirant Professor Sam Ongeri lambasted Jubilee for discriminating against IDPs from the region. IDPs from the Gusii region recently got Sh 50,000 each in a process that was shrouded in controversy.
“IDPs from other region got as much as Sh 400,000, alternative plots, farm implements and fertilizer. Were ours any different or second class citizens to deserve such casual treatment?’ he posed.
He said the Jubilee government had failed to meet the Gusii people’s development aspirations.
“We have been patient with Jubilee for the last five years but it has so far failed to implement its numerous promised development projects. It is only famous for launching projects which never get completed,” he said.
He accused his opponents of lacking a credible development scorecard, saying they would be exposed by voters on Election Day.
He asked Jubilee to stop claiming that the economy was experiencing growth when supermarket shelves were empty and firms were laying off staff.
“If the economy was growing, then we would not hear reports of companies folding operations or laying off staff. Jubilee needs to stop living in a fantasy world and gracefully retire from running the country since it has sunk Kenyan taxpayers’ funds into a deep ditch,” he said.
He said Jubilee had misused public funds, singling out the stalled Suneka Airport, Riatirimba Technical Institute in Nyaribari Masaba and tarmac road projects across the county as instances of the national government’s missed development targets.
“Had this government prudently used public funds, the airport, tarmac road projects and several industries would have been complete by now. I even struggled for many years to complete the Riatirimba Institute without success as bureaucratic red tape hampered my efforts to ensure its completion which would have hastened the development of this region into a hub of engineering education,” said the professor.
On her part Senator Janet Ongera said Mr Raila Odinga had the required qualifications to lead the country, saying the Uhuruto duo had failed to serve Kenyans to the best of their ability.
“The pair we entrusted with power in 2013 has miserably failed us by reneging on their pledges and instead engaged in a borrowing spree that has left the country saddled in debt running to 3.8 trillion,” said the senator.
She cautioned residents against voting for Jubilee, which she dismissed as “well versed in smooth talk but steeped in inefficiency and corruption”.
The leaders appealed to residents to adopt the six-piece voting formula during the election, saying it would ensure that only reform-minded leaders were elected.