Residents of Bondo and its environs sighed with relief after a political aspirants provided them with free clean drinking water after going for weeks without the precious commodity.
A political aspirant Andiwo Mwai mobilised water boozers to take water to villages, institutions and the town centre after taps remained dry following a hitch in water supply by the local supplier SIBOWASCO.
According to Mwai’s campaign coordinator Mr Success Clement, they responded to request from members of the public and local institutions who were spending a lot of money to get the commodity from River Yala or Lake Victoria.
Success said that the exercise which began on Thursday this week would go on until water supply to the region is restored or the rains come.
He disclosed that they are able to supply about 180,000 litres of water each day to the residents at a cost of Sh300,000.
The coordinator further revealed that they have a schedule to distribute water in all parts of Bondo on different days to ease the ongoing water crisis.
The dire situation has been made worse by the delayed onset of long rains and extreme temperatures which have forced the resident to use unsafe water or purchase the commodity at a high cost of Sh30 per 20 liter jerrican.
Success said the perennial water shortage in Bondo was as a result of poor leadership and asked the locals to elect leaders who would solve the water problem once and for all.
Led by Karen Obila, the residents of Abindu estate in Bondo thanked Mwai for coming to their aid saying women have been struggling to get water and they were being forced to close their businesses for most part of the day to look for water, which has affected them economically.
Grace Odinga and Judith Oyiengo who also benefited from the free drinking water said that Mwai has always supported the community with water during dry season while their calls to Governor Orengo to intervene have fallen on deaf ears even though the role of providing water to the people was a function of the county government.
Richard Onono, a resident of Bondo town, said the perennial water shortage in the region has affected households and business and asked the county government to consider establishing a water intake in lake Victoria instead of River Yala where water level falls sharply during dry seasons affecting supply of water to Bondo.
By Brian Ondeng
