Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja's good relationship with Nairobians is seemingly hitting a hiatus after he was a labelled a traitor for his stand on the highly-contested revenue sharing formula.
A spot check by Kenyans.co.ke on the morning of Monday, August 3, found that a number of banners attacking the senator had cropped up around the city indicating that a section of Nairobians were undhappy with his decision to oppose the newly revised counties revenue sharing bill.
"Sakaja is a traitor. You do not represent Mandera, represent us, Nairobi," reads a message on one of the posters.
It was argued that Sakaja disregarded the interests of his constituents by opposing the bill when Nairobi County would have been a beneficiary in the new formula with its allocation poised to increase by Ksh5.4 billion to Ksh21.2 billion.
The new allocation, however, disadvantaged sparsely populated Counties such as Garissa and Mandera which would have their budgets slashed.
Sakaja was trending at number one on Twitter under the hashtag #SakajaBetraysNairobi barely a week after the residents had vowed to teach him a lesson in the upcoming 2022 general elections.
"Nairobians' interests comes first. Sakaja is a traitor, enemy of progress," argued Dennis Nyambane.
"The people of Nairobi have had enough of hypocrisy from Sakaja, they are already in the streets with a message for him," added Ngugi Mane.
Desperation
In his response, the Senator claimed that the hashtag had been sponsored to taint his name even as a sizeable number of Twitter users sided with his decision of ensuring equitable distribution of resources.
"Morning guys. Today’s paid hashtag is #SakajabetraysNairobi. Let’s get tweeting and help the keyboard warriors earn their daily bread," joked the senator.
For the banners, he dismissed them as "Pure desperation. Loving the marketing. Unbowed."
The biggest beneficiaries in the new revenue sharing formula would have included Nairobi, Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Kiambu and Kakamega.
Sakaja had suggested that the revenue sharing formula should remain unchanged and the Senate is set to debate his motion on Tuesday, August 4.
