Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru has asked Members of County Assembly (MCAs) to play their oversight roles as envisioned in the Constitution while at the same time facilitate implementation of development projects.
Speaking during her inaugural speech at the 3rd County Assembly, Waiguru expressed confidence that the County Executive and Assembly will work together to ensure seamless service delivery to the county residents.
While congratulating the MCAs on their election to the assembly, Waiguru said that the county residents had faith in their ability to lead the county through a transformational journey.
“The people of Kirinyaga have given us their vote of confidence in the just concluded general elections. I proudly stand here today to say that we will not fail them,” she said.
She asked the MCAs to keep in mind the oath that they took upon admission to the County Assembly to represent and advance the greater public good.
She noted that the public was highly expectant that the leaders they elected were going to deliver to them.
Waiguru, who has since been elected as the Chairperson of Council of Governors (CoG), called for harmonious working relationships between MCAs and the executive so as to enable the county government to achieve its objectives.
“We will soon be presenting various bills and policies for legislation and approval, and I appeal to you to be facilitators of policies that will help in addressing various socio-economic challenges of our county,” said the governor.
Governor Waiguru highlighted the development milestones that her administration had achieved in her last term in office in various sectors of development.
She enumerated various projects implemented through the Wezesha Kirinyaga programme to empower farmers to increase agricultural productivity in order to make more money.
The health sector was also highlighted as one of the sectors in which the county government had heavily invested in with the construction of Kerugoya Level Five Hospital complex which is set to revolutionize health services in the county.
In agriculture, she said that the Wezesha Kirinyaga empowerment programme would be expanded to include more households who would be supported to undertake projects such as poultry, tomato, avocado, fish farming and bee keeping among others.
“To boost the production capacity of Kiaga animal feeds factory, the county has set aside budget to install two semi-dual automatic machines with capacity of producing 310 bags of 70kg per day,” she said.
“This in addition to the current 110 bags per day. This will improve dairy farmers’ access to quality and subsidized animal feeds,” Waiguru said.
She added that the county government would support the dairy cooperatives to process and package their milk in order to improve market access and hence fetch more money for the farmers.
To boost the coffee sector, the County Government will install modern eco-pulping machines for cherry processing and coffee drying beds for seven coffee cooperative societies.
Waiguru also told the MCAs that the county government is fast-tracking the process of distributing the 25,000 bags of subsidized fertilizers that the county has received from the national government.
Other areas of development that the governor highlighted include, road construction, water, and issuance of title deeds to residents of Kibirigwi villages, as well as education and youth empowerment.
By Mutai Kipngetich
