Kiraitu comments spark Meru-Isiolo-Garissa boundary row

Members of Parliament from Isiolo County have petitioned the national government to resolve a boundary row between Garissa, Meru and Isiolo counties following the release of the national census figures.

The lawmakers warned that if the current boundary dispute is not resolved, it risks degenerating into ethnic conflict.

Led by Deputy Majority Leader and Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo, the five legislators said the recent released 2019 Census results have heightened the situation after political leaders from Garissa and Meru laid claim to electoral units in Isiolo County.

The lawmakers blamed Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi and Lagdera MP Mohamed Hire Garane for laying claim to Ngaremara Ward in Isiolo North Constituency and Bulla Pesa in Isiolo South constituency.

With Isiolo being earmarked as a resort city and coupled with the ongoing Lapsset project, the Isiolo leaders claim their neighbours want to forcibly grab their ancestral land.

 “We want to take great exception to the claims by Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi. We want to tell him that Ngaremara Ward is in Isiolo County and it shall remain so. The census numbers should not be the reason for our neighbours to start claiming part our land,” Nominated Senator Abshiro Halakhe said at a press conference at Parliament Buildings on Thursday.

Ms Halakhe added: “We want the government to solve the boundary dispute as it a time bomb.”

“He should stop claiming Ngaremara as part of Meru. If he wants to inflate numbers, Kiraitu should look for those figures elsewhere,” Isiolo North Legislator Hassan Hulufo warned.

According Hulufo, Ngaremara was an electoral ward before the new Constitution and it has never changed and it has an MCA in the Isiolo County Assembly.

On her part, Isiolo County Women Representative Rehema Jaldesa called on the Ministry of Lands to stop an ongoing adjunction process.