Africa-Press – Kenya. President William Ruto’s tour of Siaya county Saturday saw him promise to pump billions towards the development of various roads, water and agricultural projects within the devolved unit.
Amongst the roads to be constructed is Got Nanga-Jera-Bar Ober-Uring road which leads to Siaya governor and longest-serving politician James Orengo’s home.
“We will complete the construction of roads including that one that leads to James Orengo (home) in Bar Ober I just want you to know that as we plan Kenya, Siaya and Nyanza will be part of that plan,” Ruto said.
The road that traverses the remote parts of the Ugenya constituency has been under construction albeit at a snail’s pace. During the Siaya gubernatorial campaigns last year, opponents of Orengo used the road to scorn the now governor over its sorry state.
His then competitor, Nicholas Gumbo, painted Orengo as an anti-development politician. He argued that Orengo had been in politics as the area MP and senator for over 40 years but even that road remained in a sorry state.
The president promised to speed up the construction process by pumping in more money. The other three roads are Bondo-Nango-Uyawi, Pap Otere-Kalandin-Lwak-Ka Elijah, and K’Odiaga-Onyinyore, Kombewa-Asembo Bay.
On the water, the president promised to allocate Sh1.2 billion to complete the Ugunja-Ukwala-Sega water project. “We have agreed with your governor (Orengo) on what he needs to do to unlock additional resources that will help us in the last mile of the project,” Ruto said of the Ugunja-Ukwala-Sega water project.
He said Sh280 million will be given to increase the piping of the Siaya-Bondo Water Project in order for the infrastructure to convey the valuable commodity to many.
“We need to expand the pipeline to serve more people because the project is currently limited.” On Agriculture, Ruto promised to give 20 tractors to Siaya County to fasten ploughing processes in a bid to make the region food secure.
In December last year, Orengo refurbished five tractors and launched ploughing of farms, starting with Uyoma in the Rarieda constituency. The tractors are working at a subsidized price of Sh2000; with a promise by the county government to also avail ‘cheapest’ fertilizers and free certified seeds.
However, the progress of the five tractors is yet to be felt as the planting season is fast approaching in March this year. While launching the tractors, Orengo had said that once Rarieda was done, they would move to Bondo, to Gem, to Alego and Ugenya in that chronological order.
Also, president Ruto agreed to give Siaya county a rice milling machine to add value to the crop farmers in Alego Usonga and Ujwanga in the Ugenya constituencies.
Meanwhile, the Head of State stunned many, including Orengo, with his mastery of names of local places in Siaya such as Bar Ober, Ka Elijah, and Onyinyore, among others.
Ruto explained that he knows the places because he was previously involved in the implementation of several projects during his 10-year tenure as the deputy president of Kenya. He stressed that he is the president but Nyanza, which gave him fewer votes, will not be discriminated against in terms of development.
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