Meru Governor Mutuma M’Ethingia announced a plan to rename the town’s Soko Mjinga market to Bethsaida, arguing that the existing name creates a negative perception of traders.

The proposal was raised while the governor inspected the market after police allegedly used tear‑gas on traders while enforcing a court order tied to a private claim of land ownership.

During the visit, M’Ethingia asked traders whether they supported the name change; the traders responded affirmatively and asked for new signage bearing the proposed name.

The governor pledged to protect traders’ interests, likening his defence of them to a parent protecting a child and warning that unchecked land claims could threaten other public properties in Meru town.

M’Ethingia linked the issue to the county’s Bottom‑Up Economic Transformation Agenda, emphasizing that small‑scale traders are a key target of the government’s uplift programme and should not be displaced.

He also used the occasion to defend his administration’s development record, citing progress at Meru Level Five Hospital and the ongoing KSh1.6 billion construction of Gakoromone market.

In the same remarks, the governor criticised former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi and ex‑governor Peter Munya, accusing them of treating county leadership as a personal platform.