Move to hand Kiambu jobs to one community retrogressive

Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu waves at Wangige polling station after casting a ballot on August 8, 2017. [PHOTO BY GEORGE NJUNGE]

Ferdinand Waititu, the populist governor of Kiambu, has made true his threat to sponsor legislation in the county assembly compelling public and private institutions and businesses operating in the county to employ 70 per cent of its workforce from the dominant ethnic community.

When he mentioned it earlier, it sounded sensational, only that it was irresponsible. The proximity to the city, a cosmopolitan metropolis, makes the proposal unworkable and repugnant. And all right-thinking Kenyans, including President Uhuru Kenyatta-a native of Kiambu County- should repudiate the motion.

In the sights of the governor and MCAs are institutions such as JKUAT, a university, Kenyatta University, Mt Kenya University, Bidco Oil Refineries, Delmonte, the Kenya Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd that assembles Peugeot and Volkswagen cars.

It is quite ironical that a man who is a beneficiary of ‘migration’ should turn around and use it to block others from opportunity.

Surely, those in glass houses should not throw stones. Waititu has contested elections in Nairobi and won.

If he thought this legislation would help make Kiambu great, then he is wrong. The secessionist mantra propagated by some counties feeds off Waititu’s strand of politics. It should be stopped.

Granted, Waititu could be motivated to seek solutions for growing unemployment in his new backyard, but he is going about it the wrong way. And two wrongs never made a right.

Picture this; so much of the farm produce from Kiambu ends up in the kitchens in Nairobi belonging to people he would classify as ‘outsiders’ in Kiambu. It would seem that Waititu has no inkling or is ignorant of what his move could mean to all those farmers he claims to represent.

His nativist calls are retrogressive and bound to hobble development, rather than advance it. It also represents the average mindset of the arrogant political class that has had a stranglehold on the country’s leadership; those who think it is their right to decide who gets what, when and how.

 Waititu seems to have learnt that he wields so much power he doesn’t know what to do with it. He needs to be reminded that power comes with responsibility.

Every moment he does that, he lets down and embarrasses the people of Kiambu who overwhelmingly elected him in August. If nothing else, he should honour them. Indeed, such acts debase those who queued for hours to get him elected to office.