Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Alice Wahome has urged all elected leaders from Kiambu County to put their personal difference aside and work together for the sake of the residents.
CS Wahome said she will convene a meeting with Kiambu county leadership led by the Governor to agree on way forward as far as development by the National Government in the County is concerned.
The CS spoke Wednesday morning during a round table discussion with Kiambu county elected leaders led by Senator Karungo Wa Thangwa, Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a, Woman Rep Anne Wamuratha, Lari MP Mburu Kahangara among others on Affordable Housing and Markets development programmes in the County.
“I appeal to all of you, we should not lose money allocated for development projects by creating bottlenecks, let us work together to address the problem in the next 60 days,” The CS said.
This after the elected leaders raised various concerns with the County Government with Senator Karungo saying the County is likely funds meant for development due to differences and infighting with the County leadership.
“Sadly, we were informed that we are on the verge of losing Ksh 1.6 billion by next month due to the failure of the county executive to appoint municipal managers. Kiambu has also lost millions from the World Bank due to the governor’s failure to establish various offices or committees as required by the World Bank,” He said.
Karungo said the county failure to take up projects completed by the national government, such as Githurai Market and Kirigiti Stadium is shocking.
Karungo said Kiambu needs approximately 12000 housing units every years but the same has beend elayed since the County Government remains adamant to release land for the same and could result in losing 120,000 job opportunities for the youth.
Housing and Urban Development PS Charles Hinga said Kiambu has one of the highest populations in the Country and should be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Affordable Housing Program.
He said the program will not only build houses for the people but also provide employment for the youth.
In his remarks Principal Secretary for Lands Nixon Korir said that there is a need for collaboration between the Ministry, County government and National Land Commission to unlock the issues at hand.
” I am going to work closely with my counterpart, PS Hinga to ensure that we get the technical support in executing the projects that are touching on markets, housing and any other developmental projects. Development is deliberate, you can not scoop it,” said PS Korir.
