Early this week Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot proposed that Nairobi County be scrapped and its management reverted to the National Government.
Cheruiyot was also proposing in a Bill that has hence been dismissed by Governor Mike Sonko that the name capital City be replaced by the Name National Capital City.
Cheruiyot becomes the second Senator to present such a bill as the first move to remove the Capital as one of the devolved units was sponsored by the then Murang’a Senator Kembi Gitura in 2016 .
In what looks like a response to Cheruiyot, Makadara Member of Parliament George Aladwa on Thursday presented a bill in Parliament that seeks to reduce the number of counties from 47 to 46 by dissolving Kericho.
In his notice of motion to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the MP argues that Kericho residents can access services in Bomet, Nakuru, Nandi, Kisumu and Narok counties.
“The inhabitants of Kericho originally came from the mentioned counties to work in tea farms,” he says.
The MP says the population, electoral locations and administrative centres of Kericho can be divided amongst the mentioned counties.
Aladwa said a majority of Kericho residents, especially from the Kipsigis community, have over the years migrated to Laikipia, Trans Nzoia, Nakuru, Narok, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, and Bomet counties. Others moved to Mara Province in Tanzania, he said.
The former Nairobi Mayor said the enactment of the bill will save money.
Aladwa’s bill appears to a retaliation to Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot’s bill seeking to dissolve Nairobi county and put it under the national government.
Cheruiyot reasons that Nairobi being a cosmopolitan area and a seat of power requires better management, planning and utilisation of resources.
He wants the President to appoint a Cabinet Secretary to be in charge of Nairobi.
On Thursday, Sonko dismissed the bill, saying Cheruiyot should focus on issues affecting his county.
“It is his constitutional right to say so Article 96 of the Constitution, but the same Article talks about safeguarding devolution by protecting the interests of all counties. I think my friend is serving other interests,” Sonko said.
“He is the Kericho senator, he cannot make a decision for more five million Nairobi residents.”