The pain of being left behind: Why Githunguri MP says outsiders cost her constituency its affordable houses

For Gathoni Wamuchomba, the drive through Kiambu County has become a painful reminder of what her constituency has lost.

From Ruiru to Thika to Kikuyu to Limuru, cranes are rising. Perimeter walls are up. Youth in reflector jackets are mixing concrete, carrying blocks, earning a daily wage. Roads leading to the projects are being tarmacked. Water and sewer lines are being extended. In every other constituency in Kiambu, President William Ruto's Affordable Housing Programme is now a physical reality.

Except in Githunguri.

Githunguri is now the only constituency out of the 12 constituencies in Kiambu County without a single affordable housing project, a distinction that its MP says keeps her awake at night. And on Wednesday, speaking with visible emotion during a tour of Githunguri Technical Training Institute in Marige, Wamuchomba broke her silence on why.

"It pains me," she said. "It pains me deeply that my people were incited by outsiders to oppose a project that would have changed Githunguri forever. We were cheated."

According to the outspoken second-term MP, Githunguri had been allocated a major affordable housing project on a 58-acre parcel in the Githunguri Kia Wairera area, land that has remained largely idle for decades. The project, she says, was not just about houses. It was about an entire ecosystem of development that would have come with it.

The government blueprint, which she says she personally negotiated for, included 2,000 affordable units, a new tarmac road network to connect Githunguri town to the site, a new water system, last-mile electricity extension, a modern market for small traders, a level-four hospital wing, and an ICT hub for the youth. More importantly, it came with a presidential directive that 70 percent of all casual and skilled jobs be reserved for locals.

"We were going to create over 3,000 jobs for our youth who are today riding boda bodas without a future. Our mothers were going to get a modern market. Our children were going to get a new road to school. That is what we have lost," she told the Nation.

So what went wrong? 

Wamuchomba places the blame squarely on what she terms as "outside political merchants" who, for their own political mileage, poisoned the minds of a section of residents and elders, telling them the government wanted to grab their ancestral shrine.

The controversial land, which elders say is a sacred Kiama Kia Ma shrine and a symbol of Mau Mau history, became the epicentre of a bitter national debate in April this year after a group of elders staged a dramatic traditional ritual, smashing calabashes and invoking curses against leaders supporting the project.

The incident, which was captured on video and went viral, showed elders in traditional regalia cursing the project before police dispersed them with tear gas. It triggered a court battle that has now seen the Kiambu High Court issue conservatory orders stopping any construction, fencing or development on the parcel pending the determination of a petition filed by the Agikuyu Council of Elders.

Wamuchomba, however, insists the elders who performed the ritual were not the legitimate, recognized Githunguri Kiama Kia Ma leadership, which she says had already given its blessing to the project after extensive public participation.

"The real elders of Githunguri sat with me. They agreed. The people who came to curse us were ferried from Mombasa, from Kayole, from Thika. They were hired to cause chaos. They incited my innocent residents who did not know the value of what they were losing," she said.

She was blunt: "Mnalaani nani? Hao ndo wamelaaniwa kwa sababu wanafanya maneno ambayo si ya watu wa dini ya Githunguri. Sisi hatuamini mambo hayo," she said earlier, daring the curse and declaring that her Christian faith supersedes traditional rites.

The irony, political observers note, is striking. Wamuchomba was once one of the fiercest critics of the housing levy, famously calling it "the biggest scam in Kenyan history" and voting against it. Today, she has become one of its most passionate defenders in Kiambu, arguing that while the financing model can be debated, her constituents cannot afford to be left out of national development.

"Whether you love President Ruto or not, whether you like the levy or not, development has no colour. When other constituencies are getting roads, hospitals, and jobs, you cannot tell your people to eat politics. I told my people the truth, but outsiders told them lies," she said.

The cost of missing out is already visible. In Lari, the affordable housing project has already employed 400 youth. In Juja, roads have been upgraded. In Thika Town, the housing project has come with a new sewer line that has solved a decade-old problem. Githunguri, an agricultural rich but infrastructure-poor constituency, remains with its dusty roads and a 58-acre bushy field guarded by police.

Wamuchomba now says she will not give up. She has petitioned the State Department for Housing to reallocate the project once the court matter is settled, and has appealed to her constituents not to be misled again.

"I am begging my people. Do not allow strangers to come and decide your future. This land has been idle for 40 years. No shrine activity happens there. Let us use it to build a future for our children. If we lose this chance again, history will judge us harshly," she said.

For now, Githunguri waits – the only dot on the Kiambu map without a crane, without a housing foundation, and with an MP who says the pain of being left behind is heavier than any curse.