Governor Jama presents his five-point agenda to Garissa MCAs
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama greets Members of Garissa County Assembly on October 4, 2022. He called the MCAs to support the development plan as he settles down for his second and last term in office.
Residents of Garissa will enjoy improved medical care and access to clean water and have enough food, if a new plan by Governor Nathif Jama is implemented.
Mr Jama, elected under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), presented his five-point agenda on Wednesday to the Garissa County Assembly during its first session.
He argued that devolution is meant to deliver more equitable distribution of public resources and bring development.
He said that when he was governor between 2013 and 2017, “we had laid down a strong foundation for development”.
“I now return to office, and without saying much, it is a matter of common knowledge that our county is currently yawning for salvation,” he added.
He lost to Mr Ali Korane in the 2017 elections but recaptured the seat in the August 9 elections.
Mr Jama said he will tackle the challenges inherited from his predecessor.
“I am confident that our county’s best days are yet to come and it is my sincere intention to give our county a ‘momentous fresh start’,” he said.
On water, Governor Jama said his administration will establish new water intake points in strategic locations along the Tana River.
This will ease pressure on existing water intake infrastructure and enable the pumping and supply of water to new settlements on the outskirts of Garissa town.
“We have a plan to undertake new extensive piping in Garissa town to ensure water is supplied properly to as many households as possible and provide sufficient financial support to Garissa Water and Sewerage Company (GAWASCO) to undertake holistic refurbishing of the equipment currently in use,” Governor Jama told MCAs.
Mega dams will be set up in Modogashe and Hulugho to conserve rain water as Ijara will start getting piped water from the nearby Masalani water project.
Urgent measures
On health, the county boss said he would improve services.
He called for urgent measures to reduce child and mother mortality rates, which are amongst the highest in Kenya.
“Access to maternal health and reproductive health will be enhanced … in all county facilities and we will refurbish all existing laboratories, maternity wards, dispensaries, the Garissa mortuary facility, theatres, X-ray centres and create more of these in different parts of the county in accordance to existing needs,” he said.
The governor also plans to hire more Early Childhood Development Education teachers.
“We will revitalise existing ECDE classrooms as appropriate to provide a good learning environment for our children, and in view of the growing demand we will build new ECDE classrooms in all parts of the county and increase the number of ECDE teachers,” he said.
He said all children at ECDE centres will enjoy free milk and meals.
Students at vocational training centres will have new and modern training equipment.
“We will enhance budgetary support for technical colleges, including providing appropriate, modern equipment and laboratory/workshop arrangements to support the specific knowledge and skills required by the curriculum,” he said.
Crop production
Mr Jama pledged to prioritise crop production in Garissa to deal with hunger due to drought.
“As we did in our first term, we will give priority to food security as a critical goal and maintain an enhanced working relationship with the farming community with the aim of enabling good farm produce both in terms of quantity and quality,” he said.
Drought management activities, he said, must be included in the county development plan to reduce and compensate for economic losses during drought.
“We shall be developing areas of Waso plains in Lagdera, Gababa in Ijara and Fafi plains into farming schemes to deal with the drought effects in Garissa,” he said.
He said large chunks of land will be secured in each of these three areas for large-scale farming initiatives.
“We also plan to reform the largely traditional/pastoralist and subsistence sector into a vibrant commercially oriented sector through targeted value chains and technology uptake,” he said.
He added that construction of the Garissa export slaughterhouse will be completed and opened to business.
Governor Jama urged MCAs to support his plan.
“I have no doubt that this House will be vigorous and objective in supporting our development plans for the county,” he said.
“For instance, we will count on the support of this House to enact all legislation necessary for the smooth management of our socio-economic development requirements.”
