A section of Western leaders have vowed that come rain or sunshine- they will be in the next Government to help in the socio-economic development of the region.
The leaders who included Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya and Governors Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia) and his Bungoma counterpart Wycliffe Wangamati said the Building Bridges Initiative was unstoppable in realizing a united Kenya.
Ojaamong said they have learnt a lesson of being out of Government, vowing that nothing will stop their resolve to be in the winning team in 2022.
” Since our party leader Raila Odinga has decided to work with President Uhuru Kenyatta to steer the country to greater heights, who are we to say no to such a noble idea?” Ojaamong posed.
In his speech during the Western Region Education stakeholders meeting at Kibabii University on Saturday, Ojaamong recalled his long journey with ODM party leader, driving in one vehicle while in the opposition.
He said the National Government has injected Sh50m towards construction of 2.8km runaway and control tower for an airstrip in Busia County.
Oparanya narrated how his trip to Zambia with retired President Mwai Kibaki to attend the burial of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa in 2008 saw (Butere), his birthplace get a facelift with the tarmacking of Sigalagala-Sidindi-Ekero-Mumias road.
” As the then minister in the Narc Coalition Government, I feared at first to tell the President what I wanted the Government to do for me; I was elated when the President implemented my request,” he recalled with nostalgia.
He urged teachers to help them to be in the Government.
“In the opposition you can’t do anything. I managed to get the road tarmacked by virtue of being a minister,” he said.
He asked teachers to back the BBI initiative which he said is bringing people together.
Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa said their unity with the Jubilee government is bearing fruits with the writing off -of Sh62b debts owed by sugar firms, revival of the sugar and cotton sectors, launch of Gold refinery and Granite factory in Western region among others.
“My agenda is not to fight over supremacy but to speak on behalf of 47 counties by virtue of being Devolution CS. What you have done to change the lives of your people is more crucial than how long you have been in government,” he said.
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