Uriri MP Mark Nyamita with his Suna West counterpart Peter Masara at Piny Oyie center

By MN Reporter

Uriri MP Mark Nyamita has accused governors from 14 counties in Western Kenya from locking out legislators from the area from participating  in forming a regional bank.

This is after governors from the region have come together to form the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) without involving Members of Parliament from the same region.

The governors came together to form the project and are under the chairmanship of Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya.

In a letter to Governor Oparanya dated October 19, Nyamita praised the county bosses for the “appealing and persuasive” initiative but said it was bound to fail as “crucial development actors are left out.”

“Legislators determine the allocation of national revenue between two levels of government, it is not Important for this project to take off without exhausting our inputs,” Nyamita stated in the letter.

He said when 14 counties have committed to pay Shs. 200million each to the bloc, then “people expect adequate public participation to own up the initiative.”

LREB will bring together Kakamega, Bomet, Kisii, Migori, Kisumu, Vihiga, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Bungoma, Homa Bay, Nyamira, Busia, Siaya and Kericho counties.

Oparanya will lead governors and stake holders from the region to a conference in Bomet October 21-24 but Nyamita says his colleagues are yet to be invited formally.

The auditor general, controller of budget and MCAs have been invited.

His sentiments follows similar complaints by senators and contractors from the same area.

Last week, senators led by senators Christopher Langat (Bomet), Moses Wetang’ula (Bungoma), Okong’o Omegeni (Nyamira) and Michael Mbito (Trans Nzoia) said they were not consulted in forming the bloc.

The senators also said residents were also not aware of viability of the project.