For many years, Budalang’i legislator Raphael Wanjala has reduced politics of the constituency’s development to a single structure, that’s the iconic Sigiri Bridge which he continually clings to it every electioneering period. The bridge was initiated by the national government and in recent times implemented to completion by the Uhuru Kenyatta’s government during the ending tenure of then Budalang’i MP Hon. Ababu Namwamba, who now serves as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to UNEP and UNON.
The bridge, once a long-awaited relief, came to serve a community long plagued by perennial flooding, tragic drownings, and frequent boat accidents as residents crossed from Bunyala West to the southern parts—when unsafe boat transport was the only option, often leading to avoidable deaths, has now become the single most obsession of a man who should have asked for more, done more or delivered far more for the 10 years he served as the MP before being voted out in 2007
It is a pity that in every election cycle and every public appearance, Raphael Wanjala has turned Sigiri Bridge into his campaign tool. He points to it as though it were the ultimate measure of his 20 years in leadership, yet the truth is different: the initial request for the bridge was made by Hon. Okondo long before Wanjala ever entered Parliament, and real progress towards its construction achieved during Hon. Ababu Namwamba’s tenure, culminating in the bridge’s completion.
Away from his politics of stagnation and sigiri bridge’s obsession, reality on the ground tells a different story; from roads choked with mud, poor state of the Nambengele-Port Victoria main road, unfulfilled promises of a tarmacked Ruambwa-Maumau road, schools starving of resources, hospitals strain under pressure, unsolved perennial floodings amongst other challenges and instead of working throughout the clock to sort these issues, Budalang’i has been locked into one man’s narrow obsession.
Sigiri bridge’s significance is not in question yet for Wanjala and his bandwagon keep parading it as though it were their magic cure for every problem. Worse still, the bridge is entirely a national government project, with zero input from the NG-CDF, and its completion was most likely brokered by Ababu Namwamba for its construction was achieved during his tenure as MP.
Instead of demanding more from the government, Wanjala has chosen to wrap himself in a project he had no hand in, parading it as proof of leadership. Clinging on the bridge as his legacy, it is not just a failure of imagination but a betrayal of the people’s trust. The constituency deserves a leader with vision, not a salesman of recycled promises.