Tharaka-Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki and Tharaka MP Gitonga Murugara have vowed to go to court to dispute results of the 2019 Population and Housing Census, which indicate the county has 393,177 people.
Governor Njuki and Mr Murugara led other county leaders in dismissing the figure and said they will petition the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) for a review or repeat of the exercise.
Mr Njuki said the 2009 census revealed the county had a population of 365,330 and that it is unlikely the number grew by 27,847 only in 10 years.
He said there are clear indications that Tharaka-Nithi’s population is higher than 500,000.
“These are wrong figures. We will petition the KNBS to review the whole exercise in our region in order to get the right population.”