Kakuma Municipality management has held its first consultative meeting with key partners and stakeholders in Kakuma.
The meeting aimed at understanding the mandate of the various development partners serving the refugees and how their activities can be aligned with the core functions of the municipality.
Turkana County Chief Officer for Urban Areas and Municipalities, Marian Lotieng, reassured partners of the commitment of the Kakuma Municipality to work with them to deliver services in solid waste management, town planning and development control, management of emergencies, and provision of social services such as markets, parks and cemeteries.
Lotieng noted, “To effectively provide these services, the residents will be required to pay rates and charges to increase the municipality revenue base.”
The Chief said a team of technical officers will soon be deployed to join the municipality management to boost the provision of services in Kakuma.
She said the municipality management will closely work with the Turkana West Sub-county administration to fully operationalize the municipality.
The Kakuma Municipal Manager, Peter Emuria, took note of the huge task ahead of him to mostly deliver services to the residents and refugee community.
He requested for a paradigm shift in the planning and implementation of development projects in Kakuma
The Deputy Director for Urban Areas Management, Ngala Ekuleu, challenged both the UNCHR, its partners, and the people of Kakuma, to critically think and plan for Kakuma Municipality after the UNHCR presence.
Ekuleu reiterated the need to institute investments that can attract resources from outside Turkana County.
The Officer-In-Charge of UNHCR Kakuma, Janet Pima lauded the County Government of Turkana for establishing the Kakuma Municipality, an institution she promised to support in service for both the host community and refugees.
In the meeting, Pima raised the need for more additional land to accommodate the increasing population of the refugees. In addition to this, she identified areas of joint partnership as; promoting trade and business between Kenyans and refugees, land use planning, support to water infrastructure, capacity and skills training for youth among others.
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Area Manager, Carolyne Wainaina expressed her readiness to partner with the Kakuma Municipality in areas of child protection and Early Childhood Development (ECD) services.
While meeting Peace Winds Japan, its management team pledged to support and strengthen the infrastructure of Solid Waste management as they explore ways of generating revenue from waste.
The PWJ team said through JICA, it will soon support in training and formulation of policy on solid waste management.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Area Manager, Hasan Abdi, expressed confidence in the joint planning, fundraising, and implementation of development interventions in partnership with the municipality in child protection, peace, and economic empowerment.
Kakuma municipality is the latest municipality after Lodwar was fully operationalized in 2019. The Municipality Board is now in place.
Those presents were Halima Duba (Deputy Manager, Kakuma Municipality) and Jacob Ekuwom (Principal Administrative Officer) among others.
By Peter Gitonga
