Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has urged men and women from the Mt Kenya region to have more children as a way to stimulate economic development in the Central Kenya region.
The deputy president says that despite growing up in a large family of nine, he has only two children, a decision he regrets and blames on the influence of Western ideas.
Speaking on Friday in an interview at the Kikuyu station of Inooro FM, Gachagua asked women to have many children alluding to the biblical analogy of “multiply yourselves, and fill the Earth”.
”Mimi nilidanganywa na yule mzungu kupata watoto wawili tu, ni ujinga wa zamani kwa sababu bado tulikuwa wajinga na kuamini kila anasema mzungu… Tulikuwa tisa katika familia yetu na ya wazazi wetu kutokuwa na elimu, walichukubali. tuende shule,”
“Let people have 5, 6, 7, 8 (children)… God will help you and you will be able to raise them,” added the deputy president.
Gachagua continued to explain that his fight against alcoholism, especially in Mt Kenya area, is about saving the residents of Central Kenya.
“All illegal alcohol was brought into the center of Kenya and it was a conspiracy to stop a large number of people. Either the previous government was not thinking about the issue or they couldn’t see any problem in alcohol,” said the DP.
“Our children were sleeping in pits, young married men were getting drunk and instead of sleeping on the bed they were sleeping under the bed, where were we going to get children? That is why I am very determined to stop this illegal alcohol business,” he stressed.
Gachagua also complained about the young people of Mt. Kenya who come to seek livelihood in the city and fail to return home during the census, therefore, during the distribution of national resources, the area does not get its rightful share for the population.
“Those who came to the city in search of livelihood become Nairobians… Population is what brings resources… Let’s go back home when the Census is done,” he said.
