Two Murang’a legislators differ in public over county’s graft index.

Two Murang’a legislators on Wednesday differed in public over how to handle the matter concerning the county’s graft index which showed it topping the corruption list in the country.

Murang'a Senator Irungu Kang'ata and Women Representative Sabina Wanjiru Chege addressing Moi Primary School fraternity during the institution's tree planting day on Wednesday.

Senator Irungu Kang'ata and Women Representative Sabina Wanjiru Chege took different positions over the matter during a tree planting exercise at Moi Primary School.

Even though the two leaders admitted that it was a shame to be ranked the most corrupt county, they totally differed on the approach to be taken with Kang’ata suggesting a militant approach to the matter as opposed to Sabina who proposed a cautious approach based on real facts that would unearth the real culprits.

“We are tired of the empty talk and no action. It is time Wabukhala started convicting these people and we will fight corruption in Murang’a County to the bitter end,” said Kang’ata.

Archbishop Eliud Wabukhala is the Chairman Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the team that ranked Murang’a as the most corrupt county in in the country.

However, Sabina said that even though it was embarrassing, it was prudent for the EACC to come out clearly on the matter, pinpoint the corrupt elements and deal with them individually instead of throwing blanket condemnation of an entire county.

“The county assembly has a responsibility to go through that report and give Murang’a residents a clear picture of who is corrupt. What we want is whoever is found to be corrupt, to take individual responsibility and not these embarrassing public exchange of words and blame games by our leaders,” she said.

She challenged Kang’ata to use the laid down procedures in the senate to fight corruption in the county instead of complaining ‘a lot’ in the media.

“The Senate role is to oversight the county governments. Instead of having these media exchanges, we are interested to see what Kang’ata will table in the Senate to question how the resources of Murang’a County are being used,” she added.

On matters environment, Kang’ata proposed that Nairobi Water Company allocate a certain percentage of its revenue to benefit the people of Murang’a County in the same manner Turkana residents got a 10% share of the oil revenue or in an arrangement such the Narok County case where the devolved government controlled the resources accrued from national park within their jurisdiction.

“Water sent to Nairobi must be compensated. Murang’a County Assembly should seize this opportunity to borrow a leaf from Turkana and Narok counties. The money received should be used to grow more trees and conserve the environment within the water catchment areas,” he said.

Sabina said that she has started an initiative to plant more than 2 million trees in Murang’a County before the end of the current long rains.

She encouraged men to mentor young boys into leaders noting that boys were being sidelined in favour of the girl-child, something that had created a notion that they were endangered.

“The girls are coming up and they are very active in majority of the social responsibilities. I don’t advocate for the poems that the teachers training our pupils to depict the boy-child as endangered. We need to encourage our young men and this is where I call upon our men to take responsibility to mentor our boys into the ‘warriors’ they are supposed to be,” she said.

Moi Primary School pupils have started an ambitious project to plant trees all over their compound. 

On Wednesday, over 1,000 trees were planted and adopted by the pupils who will nurture them throughout their stay in the school.