Machakos County Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha has pledged that the national government will work with the county government in order to boost the county’s social-economic development.
Speaking at Kenyatta Stadium during Mashujaa day celebrations, Onyancha said the Interior Ministry will closely work with the county government to ensure there is security and peace in the county.
“I’d like us to have a very close relationship with the county government because some dockets like licensing of bars were devolved. The county government has set operating hours, it is now the work of the national government to enforce the laws like ensuring that clubs operate during the given hours,” said Onyancha.
She said that National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) will deal with drug abuse which she termed as the main cause of suicide even as she thanked the officers for performing well in dealing with drug trafficking.
The County Commissioner vowed to work with the county government to ensure that youths in the county are sober and productive.
She asked the area Woman representative to work with the county government in dealing with Gender Based Violence by constructing a safe house for the victims where they can stay for a while as they make peace with the perpetrators.
Onyancha also thanked all those who aspired for different electoral seats for remaining peaceful during and after elections and urged police officers to cooperate with chiefs and village managers to identify criminals and apprehend them.
She also asked the county government to form environment committees to address issues of deforestation and sand harvesting in order to stop environmental degradation where she cautioned the law breakers
Onyancha urged the residents to move from rain fed agriculture to irrigation promising that relief food will be distributed fairly to all those affected by drought.
“On food insecurity, the national, county government and other stakeholders have formed a committee called county steering group which is chaired by the chiefs. We direct the chiefs to have the lists of those affected by drought as soon as Monday in order to ensure that there is fair food distribution,” said Onyancha.
On her part, Machakos County Governor Wavinya Ndeti assured the national government that they will work together to make the county the best and revealed that they are investing in long term solutions on food insecurity by digging dams.
“We can’t depend on food relief that’s why we have invested in water. We will put up gabions to stop soil erosion, we have done 16 water dams and we will continue to dig more all over the county,” said Ndeti.
The governor also noted that the county will distribute seedlings which are ideal for the short rains to farmers in addition to distributing food from donors to the needy families as they work on their long term solutions.
“Our food from donors is coming next week and will reach all the affected people. We have also looked for seeds that can thrive during short rains since we have been warned of low rains this season. We are targeting 1500 farmers in every ward,” said Ndeti.
Ndeti also promised to work with the Kenya Wildlife Service to make the county a tourist destination where she promised to put up a fence in places like Ol Donyo Sabuk to ensure forests and wildlife are safe and also minimize the human-wildlife conflicts.
The Governor lauded the National government for ensuring that there is minimal theft and that businesses run smoothly where she noted that the county had restored the dysfunctional security lights adding that the county will shift to solar power which is more economical.
She also pledged that the county government will ensure that all bars are licensed, sell up to the standards items, work within the given hours and that she will create jobs for the youth to minimize drug abuse.
Ndeti further stated that she will improve the health sector adding that the county bought medical drugs worth Sh8 million. She urged those in-charge to monitor the commonly used drugs so that they can be restocked more often.
By Rachael Kilonzo and Caroline Mutheu
