Governor Ngilu receives backing over crackdown on charcoal burning

Mwingi Central MP Gideon Mulyungi has come to the defense of Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu’s move to ban charcoal burning and sand harvesting in the county.

This comes in the wake of uproar from Kiambu County businessmen accusing Governor Ngilu of inciting the youth to torch one of their lorries transporting charcoal from Kitui County.

Dr. Mulyungi was speaking during the burial of Nicholas Muma Kilonzi, an Administration Police officer who died while undergoing treatment at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital. Nicholas was a son to former MCA Kilonzo Maundu.

He urged the public not to view Ngilu’s move as a fight against any particular community but as a fight against environmental degradation and which every Kitui resident ought to support.

The legislator further added that charcoal burning in Kitui had done a great deal of damage to the county’s ecosystem and was even threatening to turn the region into a desert with time, hence should not be tolerated.

“Let them leave our trees for us, because… even ourselves… we will not go to other regions to cut down trees. We already have shortage of rain in this area, so we cannot continue to allow people from outside to come in and cut down our trees and be on their way, leaving us in drought. I support the Governor’s move because even the Jubilee government has refused to help us,” said Mulyungi.

He urged Governor Ngilu to maintain her ground, adding that no amount of uproar should interrupt the fight towards a better environment.

Mulyungi also accused a local administration officer at Nuu in Mwingi East sub-county of being behind the rampant charcoal business and called for immediate action to be taken against him.

Governor Ngilu has recently come under heavy criticism from Kiambu county residents and businessmen after a lorry ferrying charcoal was burnt in Kanyonyo area in Kitui by youths.

The torching came after a video showing Governor Ngilu allegedly inciting Kitui county youth to burn down all vehicles carrying charcoal hit the interwebs.

Ngilu, speaking in vernacular, is heard saying, “If you see the lorries, burn them and call me.”

Kiambu county transporters on Saturday lit bonfires and staged protests at Kwambira area along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway calling for the arrest of the Kitui Governor for what they termed as promoting ethnicity.