The animosity between Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and the county assembly played out openly on Monday after members of the Covid-19 Ad-Hoc Committee were denied entry into Kerugoya Referral Hospital.
The nine members, led by vice-chairperson Erastus Ireri, were shocked when they were informed that they could not access the hospital to assess the county’s preparedness.
Last month, the MCAs repeatedly refused to pass Governor Waiguru’s budget in a well-calculated move to starve the county executive of cash.
But on Monday, their actions came back to haunt them after all top health officials in the county switched off their phones, derailing their planned tour of the hospital.
According to Ireri, they had informed the county health minister of their intended tour since as part of their role to oversight the county’s Covid-19 mitigation measures.
Accompanied by county assembly staff, the Covid-19 team waited for over two hours at the hospital’s gate before they were informed that they couldn’t access the facility.
“We have been waiting for two hours for a senior officer to take us around but we are surprised all top health officials have switched off their phones and we are now being informed that we can’t access the facility,” said Ireri.
Addressing the press after the incident, Ireri claimed that the county’s preparedness to the pandemic is wanting.
He said that the governor has been lying to the public that the county is prepared when there are no beds in Intensive Care Units.
“The problem with our leaders is that they don’t care about the welfare of their people. I plead with the people of Kirinyaga to keep safe since our county is poorly prepared and everybody is at risk,” Ireri said.
His sentiments were echoed by Mutithi Ward MCA Peter Njomo and Nyangati ward rep Sammy Maina.
Maina said that the problem has been aggravated by the governor’s move to court where she obtained an injunction to stop the execution of the MCAs’s version of the budget.
“We can’t do anything right now because there is no money…what we are telling the governor is to stop public relations gimmicks and confront the problem currently bedeviling the health sector in the county”.
