The government will tarmac 88 kilometres of roads in Rachuonyo West Sub-County, Homa Bay, for Sh5.2 billion, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has said.
Omollo said the government was also investing Sh605 million in water supply projects across the sub-county’s three wards.
The PS said the projects were part of the government’s efforts to address long-standing challenges facing residents, including poor roads, limited access to clean water, electricity and inadequate education infrastructure.
He said construction of one of the key roads in the area, launched in 2018 when President William Ruto was Deputy President, had finally resumed after years of delays.
“Eight years down the road, nothing had happened. It is only under his leadership now as President that the contractor is finally back on site and work is progressing,” Omollo said.
He added that the 67-kilometre road was expected to be completed by July.
Omollo said the additional road projects would bring the total length of tarmacked roads in Rachuonyo West to 88 kilometres.
He also said the government was addressing water challenges through a Sh605 million investment aimed at improving water supply across the area’s three wards.
The PS, however, raised concern over the vandalism of electricity transformers, saying the vice was undermining efforts to expand rural electrification.
He urged residents to protect electricity infrastructure and report suspected criminals involved in the vandalism.
“We have agreed as a community that we will support the ongoing exercise of last-mile rural electrification, first by ensuring that the infrastructure that has already been put in place is protected,” he said.
Omollo also challenged residents to ensure all school-going children attend school, noting that the government had allocated Sh784 billion to education in the current financial year.
The funds, he said, would support the hiring and payment of teachers, infrastructure development, loans and bursaries for students.
The PS said the community also had a role to play in improving the state of schools.
He cited Alara Secondary School, one of the oldest schools in the area, saying it had only 220 students because of inadequate investment in infrastructure and limited community involvement.
“It is not acceptable that in this day and age only 220 students go to that school purely because we have not invested in the infrastructure and we have also not taken a lot of interest in the school,” Omollo said.
He urged parents and community members to take an active role in the management and development of schools by monitoring academic performance, supporting infrastructure projects and paying school fees where possible.
The PS also said the government was seeking to bring services closer to the people through the recruitment of chiefs and assistant chiefs in newly gazetted administrative units.
Omollo urged residents to nominate people of good character to serve as chiefs and assistant chiefs, saying the administrators would help communities access government services and support local development.
He also announced that village elders would, for the first time, receive a stipend beginning this month in recognition of their role in supporting government administration and service delivery.
On politics, Omollo urged residents to support President Ruto’s re-election bid, saying leaders from the region had united behind the President’s development agenda.
He said the government was also working to ensure more Kenyans acquired national identity cards and registered as voters.
The PS further urged politicians to allow their opponents to campaign freely and warned young people against being used to cause violence during political meetings.
“Every leader must be allowed to canvass their issues without coercion or intimidation. If there is a leader you do not like, please keep away from their meetings,” he said.
He called on young people to reject political violence and urged residents to make their choices at the ballot box based on the performance and policies of political leaders.
