Transition Authority chair demand for Kiambu civic education and public participation directory.

Former Transition Authority Chairperson Kinuthia Wamwangi has challenged Kiambu County Government to create an inventory of all residents associations within their jurisdiction to enable it effectively enhance public participation.

While speaking during 79^th Bi-Monthly Talk Forum organised by the Kenya Alliance of Resident Association (Kara) at a Thika hotel, Kinuthia also challenged the county government to have a directory of civic education and public participation forums.

“Public participation is a constitutional requirement as enshrined in Articles 10 and 174 which give residents the rights to manage their own affairs. As a bare minimum, we are asking the new dispensation to facilitate at least two annual round table meetings between the residents and the county government,” he said.

Kinuthia explained that participants to these round table meetings should be drawn from representatives of residents and business associations as well as prominent opinion leaders.

“The purpose of these meetings is to plan for budget allocations according to the people’s individual needs as well as evaluating and reviewing the progress of the work done by the county government in the preceding financial year,” he explained.

The former Transition Authority chair challenged residents to always demand for proper mechanisms from the government to ensure that their input formed the basis of any policies, budget allocations and implementation.

While responding to some of the residents’ concerns, County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Planning and Urban Development James Maina said that one of the major challenges they faced as a government was over budgeting by the previous regime as well as incomplete boards, especially the Public Service Board.

“In the next 30 days, we shall constitute the Public Service Board to help us implement some of these policies. Thika has already been allocated Ksh. 305 million for development this financial year with Ksh. 150 million set aside for roads and street lighting within the CBD,” explained the CEC.

“We are also in the process of looking into the Kiambu Spatial Plan to enable us fix our challenges in the long-term and give directions to control our development plans,” he added.

Thika District Business Association (TDBA) Chairman Alfred Wanyoike challenged the county government to be proactive and predetermine solutions to challenges instead of waiting to react on them when they occurred.

Central Region Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Dan Miano asked Kiambu County to conduct a business survey (census) of all businesses in their jurisdiction and avail such data for planning and facilitation purposes, as this was the only way to achieve meaningful sustainable development.

Kara CEO Henry Ochieng’ challenged residents to always participate in issues that affected them especially matters that concerned budgeting and policy making as this was the only way they could fully benefit from the services they needed from the government.