Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria on Tuesday, November 5, attacked ODM leader Raila Odinga and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya a day after the release of the results of the 2019 National Population and Housing Census.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Kuria stated that the 2009 census presided over by the then Minister for Planning Wycliffe Oparanya was a sham, and that then CORD leader Raila Odinga had agreed to the results in order to remain politically relevant.
"The census results prove many but mainly one thing. 2009 was a fraud of monumental proportions. A section of this country held the nation hostage and the census figures were the ransom," he stated.
In February 2012, Oparanya tabled a revised post-census report in Parliament, showing that figures in Lagdera, Mandera East, Mandera Central, Mandera West, Wajir East, Turkana North, Turkana South, and Turkana Central sub-counties had been inflated in the 2009 population count.
The initial figures read that the regions (Mandera and Garissa) had 2.35 million people but the revised figures presented by the minister indicated 1.3 million people as the actual population size.
This was a basis that Kuria used to state that the figures had been reduced in the region so as to stifle the political and developmental standing of the region.
In a strange twist, however, the now-defunct CORD in 2015, led by Raila Odinga, considered joining a court case in which leaders from three counties of Northern Kenya challenged plans by the national government to reduce the population figures from the 2009 census.
Odinga warned that any attempts to adjust the figures would not sit well with Kenyans and would hamper the unity of the nation and relations with a section of the population that felt victimized and marginalized.
Kuria posted on his Facebook page, stating that he could read politics in the move and alleged that it was an attempt by Odinga to right his political mistakes in a bid to remain relevant.
"Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya and his boss Raila Odinga acquiesced for political expediency. Shame! Now the people who cooked the 2019 [sic] Census ensured they ate the bigger portion of the national cake by keeping the rest of the country divided. Once we unite this country they are out of business," he stated.
Kuria declared that he stood in support of the 2019 census results and called for other leaders to follow suit for the sake of progress in the country.
"I hereby officially accept the Census results. No Video Assistant Referees (VAR), No Supreme Court. Let's move to the next level in our national discourse," he concluded.
