Nyandarua Governor, Francis Kimemia has appealed to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team to help the County reclaim Nyahururu town back.
The Governor regretted that Nyandarua County was losing much in terms of revenue generated from the town saying that its residents had invested much in Nyahururu.
While making a presentation to the BBI team that visited Nyandarua to collect views from local resident Friday, Kimemia said that the Sh. 100 million per year revenue generated from the town belonged to Nyandarua.
“The tax paid in Nyahururu town goes to Laikipia and doesn’t benefit people of Nyandarua who developed it,” he said.
All the BBI team members led by its Chairman, Senator Yusuf Haji were present.
Haji said Nyandarua was the 18th county the team was holding public hearings and hoped they will visit all the 47 devolved units during the given time frame.
Kimemia claimed that Nyahururu town was developed using Nyandarua resources because residents of the County knew all along that the town was theirs.
He alleged the boundary was shifted during provincial boundary realignment, thus putting Nyahururu in the then Rift Valley Province.
The governor’s sentiments were also echoed by Nyandarua county assembly speaker, Ndegwa Wahome who indicated that Nyandarua residents are suffering without a referral hospital as the Nyahururu county referral hospital is under Laikipia County.
The controversy dogging the town was fueled after the country adopted devolution following the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010 where the town was left in Laikipia county and not Nyandarua.
The previous Nyandarua county government complained that the county did not have enough resources to develop Ol-kalou as the county headquarters.
The county leadership led by Governor Kimemia, also cited inadequate allocation of funds by the national government saying it was hampering development of the expansive and productive county.
By James Thuku
