County Officials Forced To Flee As Angry Residents Turn Down Offer For Water Project.
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| A resident of Munyu yell at the Kiambu Water CEC Esther Wanjiru Njuguna minutes before the meeting was disrupted and the county officers forced to flee to evade the wrath of the irate mob. |
Trouble started when the high powered county government team led by the Water,
Environment & Natural Resources CEC Esther Wanjiru Njuguna were about to
respond to concerns raised by some of the residents concerning the acquisition
of their water project by Thika Water and Sewerage Company (THIWASCO), who are
the body mandated to run water services in the region.
In a well-orchestrated move, those who got the microphone to ask
questions used the opportunity to charge the crowd into rejecting the proposals
by the officials. Within a short time, the crowd became agitated and rowdy,
forcing the C.E.C. to prematurely end the meeting and be escorted to her
vehicle by security officers.
Speaking to the press after the disruption, Samuel Njuguna, a resident in
the area explained that they were opposed to THIWASCO taking over the Munyu Water
Project as they feared that it would result to them paying more for water.
“The county government (of Kiambu) through THIWASCO wants to hijack our
community project. Where were they for all that time? We do not want them to
interfere with our project. If they want to help the people of Munyu and Komo
with clean water, let them start their own project. Do not bring politics into
our project,” said Njuguna.
Ibrahim Maina complained that in areas where THIWASCO provided water
services, residents complained of endless water outages that at times lasted
for weeks.
“We never lack water anytime here and we will not let the county to get
involved in this project as this will mean us going for days without water as
it happens to other areas where the provide the service. This is a community
project where residents contributed money for both equipment and personnel to
run it on their behalf. We are not ready to surrender it to the county
government who have not even paid a penny in the project,” said Maina.
Responding to these queries later in the evening, the CEC disputed the
arguments saying that those who disrupted the meeting were hired goons from
people with vested interests.
“We had gone to Gatuanyaga to respond to numerous complaints that had
been brought to our attention by the people of Munyu themselves. Majority of
those in the meeting were never opposed to the handing over of the project to
THIWASCO. And I will not rule out politics in this whole saga,” said Ms.
Njuguna.
She pointed out that it was the responsibility of the county government
to ensure that all residents in their jurisdiction received adequate, clean and
safe drinking water. She added that they were also mandated by law to ensure
that people were not exploited by unscrupulous traders out to make a kill
without putting the welfare of their customers before everything else.
“Right now they are charging sh.3 for a jerry can of water instead of the
recommended THIWASCO price of sh. 1. The people manning the project are not
trained to treat water. We even do not know how they are doing the treatment
(if at all) or where they are getting the cleansing chlorine from. This is
putting our people at risk,” she said.
Njuguna said that the county government had set aside sh.10 million for
the expansion of this project treatment and piping so as to reach more people.
She reminded those opposing the takeover that the sole responsibility of
water provision belonged to the devolved governments and there was no turning
back.
“Provision of water to residents is solely under the county government
and there should be no dispute about that. We are not turning back and we will
definitely take over this project. This is a government project that was
started in 1968 and no one should claim ownership,” she concluded.
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