A demand for road tenders worth Sh 300 Million out of the Sh 600 Million worth of projects in Kajiado town is the major reason for the recent fall out between Governor Joseph Ole Lenku and Kajiado Central MP Memusi Kanchory.
Mr Memusi put the award of the tenders as a condition to support Mr Lenku in 2022, leading to a brief political truce last year.
The tenders were openly advertised by the Kajiado Municipality while the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) has projects worth Sh 600 Million in Kajiado town.
Most of the tarmac roads, including the Total- KCB road; Cooperative Bank – Majengo road and the KCB-Nyambene Road were awarded and are now complete and in use.
The one that broke the delicate political association was the running from Eastmart Supermarket through Mukuru upto the County Headquarters.
It was awarded and is now under construction.
The Sh 100 Million for the construction Kajiado stadium which is ongoing was also part of Memusi demands.
The tender was awarded to another firm not associated with the MP despite a spirited lobbying to have it awarded to one of Mr Memusi’s aides.
The aide is said to have lined up 7 firms which have been carrying out works by the Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA) for the municipality tenders.
Mr Memusi laid down the demands as part of his bargain to cement the political association with the Governor which was born early last year after a public spat in his constituency.
Having failed to bag the tenders, an angry and frustrated Memusi decided to take on the Governor with the go slow by unpaid casual cleaners at the Kajiado Referral Hospital last week giving him a perfect opportunity.
Memusi bypassed Health CEC Esther Somoire on the solution of the matter and instead sneaked into the Referral hospital last Sunday with the media and addressed the angry workers.
Mr Memusi sought to incite the 45 workers that the Department of Health had failed to pay them.
Although the MP knew the delay to pay the workers was caused by the delay of transfer of funds from Treasury, he hit at the County Government, specifically the Governor.
In his political mathematics, Memusi had calculated to rake in the millions as a war chest in 2022.
He would then woo the Governor to back his re-election bid by getting the Governor’s populous Orokiteng clan.
In return, the MP had promised the Governor that he would mobilize his Odomong’i clan in his favor.
How far this arrangement had gone may just have gone up in smoke after the “tenders fall out” and is back to Lenku Versus Memusi political duel.
By the time of going to press, Memusi had not been reached for comment since he had not responded to calls and text messages sent on his phone.