The Fisheries Principal Secretary (PS), Prof. Micheni Ntiba has attributed the rapid completion of some of the Sh. 20 billion public projects in Tharaka Nithi to the seamless team work by the County Development Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC).
Prof. Micheni noted that the projects that had been funded by the national government had stalled and were only reactivated when CDICCs were formed following the decreeing of the Presidential Executive Order of 2019.
He said the commendable projects completion record is testimony enough that the directive was timely and would henceforth streamline coordination of all projects being implemented by different government agencies which hitherto operated in isolation rendering many to end up as monumental white elephants
The PS who was speaking at Chuka when he and the Principal Administrative Secretary in the ICT Ministry (PAS), Eric Kiraithe visited the local CDICC to review progress of projects that the government had initiated to improve service delivery to area residents.
Some of the stalled projects that the Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner (CC), Ms. Beverly Opwora informed the officials were now compete include the Sh 3.4-billion 59kilometre Kawanjara-Mitunguu-Meru road and the upgrading of electricity supply to the Chuka Level 4 hospital that has enabled most medical equipment to become operational.
Prof. Ntiba said the focus of the government was now on ensuring that members of the public benefit from projects the government promised and has funded adding that officers must now move from their offices to the ground for better interaction with wananchi.
He asked the CC to rope in important departments like Agriculture and Livestock Development departments that were now devolved to ease better planning and implementation of public projects.
“We are no longer a boardroom government and it is imperative that departmental heads work as a team, hold regular meetings and arrange visits to the field for better assessment of ongoing development programmes,” Prof. Ntiba stressed.
He urged all members of the CDICC to give truthful information whenever they are reporting on projects under their dockets pinpointing problems they encounter so that the National Committee of Principal Secretaries may assist resolve the logjam.
Prof. Ntiba decried the dearth of manufacturing industries in the county and called for concerted efforts to rectify the situation, saying the area must not be left to lag behind by others that have already embraced the President’s Big 4 Agenda.
The new road, commonly referred to by locals as Mate’s road in honor of the first post-independence legislator the late Bernard Mate, traverses the rich farmlands in the lower zones of Tharaka Nithi and Meru Counties and has been hailed as a success story by area farmers.
The Chuka Hospital Acting Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Dr. Maureen Ogeto said although all medical equipment at the facility was now operational, there was need to post trained technologists to operate them.
By Kenneth Marangu
