Why Uhuru is pumping in Billions to change face of Nyanza

President Kenyatta has rolled out an elaborate plan to fast-track development initiatives in the region. The president has even directed Cabinet Secretaries to deliver a bag of goodies to Nyanza in one year!

Areas of focus include construction of new roads and improvement of existing ones, eliminating the water hyacinth menace and boosting security of the region.

The directive follows the pledge President Kenyatta made to residents when he visited the region in December last year.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said they had been given one year to initiate development projects.

CSs ordered to deliver development

“Whatever the President directed in December, we must deliver as government. And we have one year to do that,” Mr Balala said in Bondo last week where he was hosted by Mr Odinga shortly after they visited the Kisumu Port.

Also present were Keriako Tobiko (Environment) and Raphael Tuju, CS without portfolio.

Clear hyacinth menace

The visit by the three ministers followed a meeting between Dr Matiang’i and leaders from the region on January 28 in his capacity as the supervisor of the Cabinet.

Under the new arrangement, Mr Tobiko is expected to lead a multi-sectoral team drawn from both the local and national governments to address the hyacinth issue in the shortest time possible.

Tourism in Kisumu

 “With the hyacinth, we cannot operationalise the oil jetty. With the weed, we cannot have the cruise line we want and the boats we want to introduce in the lake and create the experience that people want,” he said.

He added that he expects tourists to visit Kisumu just the same way holidaymakers go to the Coast for vacation.

Uhuru’s commitment

Already, there is a Sh15 billion plan in place to revive Lake Victoria, which will include dredging, removal of water hyacinth, modernisation of the Kisumu port, construction of a ship yard assembly and restoration of the old meter gauge railway from Nakuru to Kisumu.

“The Head of State is keen on developing Kisumu, and this started with the recent launch of dredging of the port and the coming of SGR,” Mr Mbadi – who is a member of the infrastructure committee working with Transport CS James Macharia – said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *