Machakos County government, in partnership with National Youth Service(NYS), has launched barabara mashinani initiative.
Wavinya Ndeti, Machakos County Governor, stated that the program aims to open rural economies and connect market centres in small towns.
“This programme will entail rehabilitation, grading and murram of access roads to all 40 wards of Machakos County, we are targeting the most affected areas to help open up the rural economies and link market centres in our small towns and this is part of our 100 days’ rapid result initiative,” said Ndeti.
Ndeti stated they will use both the national youth service equipment and the county government equipment that were previously grounded, but are now fully functional.
She also stated that the programme will affect more than half of the county’s population, as it will encourage trade and commerce to the rural areas and increase the economy for local traders.
The governor stated that all forty Machakos County wards will be able to benefit from the program and that they plan to cover approximately 3000km before the short rains.
“We need to do a minimum of at least two dams per ward before the rains come. We will deploy 20 graders to work for 30 days each grader doing a minimum of 5km per day, we will further deploy five dozers but we’ll add more for excavation of dams,” said Ndeti.
Ndeti stated that they intend to partner with Kenya National Highways Authority, Kenya Urban Roads Authority and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA), in order to build more roads in the future.
“I was working with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, it is my intention to continue working with KURA, KeHNA and KERRA to ensure as we use our county office resources, we also utilize the national government resources to ensure that our roads are open,” said Ndeti.
Ndeti stated that she met with water companies and they agreed to increase water supply in the county from 35% to 65% by the end her five-year tenure as Machakos County governor.
She also encouraged the Members of County Assembly (MCAs), to do their oversight and promised to work closely with them to ensure that Machakos residents are well-served.
Ndeti stressed that a large percentage of food insecurity in the county can be attributed to water scarcity. He urged the chief officers of the county to ensure that all rivers have weirs that are high enough to allow water to pump up 10 to 20 km.
The governor encouraged Machakos residents planting trees to conserve water. She also appealed to the county government officials not too let her down. She also promised to ensure that all county employees, even those in rural areas of the county, are safe.
She asked all residents who have not paid their taxes or licenses to do the same to increase revenue to enhance services. She also promised that she would harmonise and lower licensing to make it easier for them.
By Caroline Mutheu
Source: kenyanews
