2019 CENSUS CRUCIAL FOR GOVERNMENT PLANNING AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION.

By Chrys Chacha.

As the 2019 census exercise approaches, several appeals have been made urging Kenyans to comeSupportupportrt 9 enns out in their numbers to be counted. The Kuria leaders and stakeholders have not been left out either. Using the local radio, churches, newspapers and social media platforms, they have told locals that census is a reference for government programs planning, allocation of resources for different regions and communities in the country, and therefore their numbers will determine what goes to Kuria region.

The leaders noted that the exercise had more meaning to the people of Kuria because it provided another opportunity to strength their demand for a TransKuria county to be hived off Migori County through numbers, a journey they began with submission of a memorandum to President Uhuru Kenyatta at statehouse in 2017 and another to the Building Bridges Initiative team during the task force visit to Migori County in March this year.

The members of the Kuria community are citing discrimination and being sidelined by the County government of Migori. The other reason for the push to have a county was the fact that it was impossible for the Kuria community to win any top elective position in Migori county in a competitive race because they lack numerical strength as compared to their Luo counterparts.

The push comes out as a repeat of history because in the year 1993, members of the Kuria community succeeded to get their first district named as Kuria District after concerted effort to move out of the then Homabay headquarters where they traveled to for essential government services.

The same spirit was seen in 2013 when Kuria leaders led by the then Kuria Constituency Member of Parliament Dr. Wilfred Machage stopped President Kibaki’s motorcade on his visit to the region and requested for an additional constituency, efforts that gave Kuria a second constituency and saw the region divided into Kuria East and Kuria West constituencies.

In their 2017 campaigns in Kuria region, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Dr. William Ruto were met with a demand for additional sub-counties which was followed by a memorandum to statehouse that would later secure the region Ntimaru and Mabera Sub-counties which have since been gazetted and DCCs posted. However, the county government of Migori under governor Okoth Obado is yet to operationalize these administrative units by posting sub-county administrators.

The Kuria leaders, stakeholders and opinion leaders have embarked on a campaign in support of the BBI and the census exercise with the hope of recording high numbers, which they say will help in securing more resources to the region from the government, justify the demand for a TransKuria county and address their marginalization.