The leader of the majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale has cautioned the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) against scrapping off some constituencies in North Eastern region based on 2019 census results.
According to a report by the Kenya News Agency (KNA) on Tuesday, February 18, Duale lamented that the upcoming boundaries review seemed aimed at disenfranchising the region.
Duale was speaking at Najah Islamic Centre on Monday, February 17, where he insisted that the region was looking forward to having more constituencies instead of the decrease.
He pointed fingers at unnamed government officials whom he insisted were planning to rig the region out of development funds and opportunities afforded to the entire country.
"We are telling bureaucrats in the government that we have the raw data of Balambala, Lagdera and all the constituencies and the truth will finally come out. We will not allow those games to be played on us,” Duale stated.
“We will not allow you to deny us county resources, extra constituencies and wards based on cooked figures. We know the whole game being played and we will not allow that,” he affirmed.
Duale insisted that until and unless the ‘doctored census’ result are corrected, then it "would not be business as usual" for the region and the country.
Duale told the gathering that the marginalized parts of Kenya have realised the fruits of independence only after the promulgation of the 2010 constitution.
He, however, regretted that the "reality is now in danger courtesy of the fabricated census results."
The 2019 census figures showed that Balambala has the least population at 32,252, followed by Lagdera at 50,315. Dadaab recorded the highest population of 185,252, followed by Garissa Township at 163,914.
The data showed that the three North Eastern counties have a combined population of 2,490,073, compared to 2.3 million people in 2009. Garissa and Wajir have 841,353 and 781,263 respectively, while Mandera has 867 457.
The IEBC announced that it was bound to conduct the boundaries review in March 2020.
