Governor appoints members of municipal authorities

Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua has appointed a team of 17 members who will be mandated to oversee the running of the Mavoko and Machakos municipalities.
This is after the Machakos County Assembly approved the establishment of the new authorities in 2018 in accordance with Section 13 of the Urban Areas and Cities Act of 2011.
The county government had set aside Sh1 billion in its Sh12.2 billion 2018/2019 budget for the establishment of Mavoko, Machakos and Tala /Kangundo municipal boards through the Kenya Urban Support Program.
The program is aimed at strengthening the urban institutions to help them in efficient service delivery in order to spur investment in the county.
Under the plan, the government hopes to spend Sh303 million for Machakos, Sh273 million for Mavoko and Sh441 million would be channeled towards the upgrading of Kangundo-Tala towns.
While announcing the new team that shall be sitting in the two boards, Dr. Mutua urged them to immediately get down into business by transforming the new towns into modern social and economic hubs in line with other urban areas around the world.
“I wish to congratulate and welcome them to serve the people of Machakos and Kenya at large. Urban areas are the energies of economic activity. I have thus directed the inaugural board members to come up with ways of making our towns attractive to investments and conducive to dwellers,” he said.
He said as a county, they have to change the way of doing things through embracing modern technology and emerging skills in order to grow the economy, create jobs, improve the quality of life and eradicate poverty.
He exuded confidence in the new team and said that he looked forward to seeing them working in transforming the county’s fortunes.
“We have to modernize the way we do our urban planning and development so as to grow our economy, create jobs, improve the quality of life and eliminate the shame of poverty. I am confident that this team is up to the task,” Dr. Mutua added.
The county boss said that in the coming weeks, his government would introduce a 24 hour working schedule where residents would be able to access government services more easily.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mutua has blamed Wednesday’s grisly accident that claimed 14 lives near Matuu town to laxity in enforcing traffic laws.
He said failure to impose the county’s traffic regulations which required stalled vehicles to be towed away from roads was a leading cause for the rising number of road accidents in the county and country at large.
He warned county Inspectorate personnel who failed to enforce the laid down laws would be dealt with accordingly.
The 52-seater ‘Medina Bus’ rammed into a stationary lorry Wednesday morning near Matuu town while travelling to Nairobi from Mandera.
Fourteen people died on the spot while 27 others were rushed to Matuu Level Four hospital after sustaining various degrees of injuries.
Kenya loses at least 3,000 people on her roads every year making her among the leading countries in the world with the highest highway carnage.
By Samuel Maina