Wamuchomba doubts Ruto’s 15,000 Kiambu housing units, citing past unfinished projects

Githunguri Member of Parliament Gathoni Wamuchomba has cast doubt on President William Ruto’s pledge to deliver 15,000 housing units in Kiambu County, saying the government has a track record of launching projects that stall soon after ground-breaking.

Ruto has promised to deliver the large development projects in the central region county, including 30 modern markets to a tune of Ksh.4.5 billion and the housing units worth Ksh.30 billion.

In an interview on Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Tuesday, Wamuchomba questioned the President’s credibility on housing promises, pointing to incomplete projects in her constituency as evidence.

“The President is very popular, vocal, and experienced when it comes to committing himself to figures, which eventually do not come to fulfilment. When I see him say that he’s going to do 15,000 new units in Kiambu County and in a month or so, I laugh because he has done that in the past, and he has come to launch projects that are stalled now,” she said.

The MP cited a market in Githunguri that Ruto launched with fanfare but which, according to her, remains at the foundation stage.

“The last time he appeared in my constituency in Githunguri, he came with a lot of force and launched a market. The day he left, the contractor left, and to date, the foundation stone that he laid is still there. Not an inch moved,” she told the programme.

Wamuchomba argued that before embarking on large-scale housing projects, the government should complete already stalled initiatives, including markets, roads, and an aggregation centre.

“If he cannot deliver a market, for heaven’s sake, how do you want me to believe him that he is going to do 15,000 housing units? Finish the aggregation centre, the stalled markets and roads, and then come back with new promises,” she said.

The lawmaker also criticised the use of State House forums to push policy matters that she said should be debated in Parliament.

“Members of Parliament sit there and all they do is take instructions from the President inside State House on matters that are supposed to be debated and handled on the floor of the House,” she said.

Ruto’s critics have accused him of paying Members of Parliament and Senators to advance his political and legislative agenda, such as to push unpopular proposals through Parliament and impeach those who fall out of his favour.

Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted from the deputy president’s office through an impeachment last October after he and Ruto fell out, recently told Citizen TV that the President “has no moral authority to talk about corruption in Parliament” because he “is the one who has corrupted it.”

“Ruto pays Parliament for everything he wants to happen,” Gachagua alleged in the August 26 interview.