Since introduction of devolution slightly over 3 years ago, Machakos county residents have been complaining a lot amidst much articulated praise taking center stage purporting that the county is the most developed of all the 47 counties accross the republic.
But it seems that the cup has been washed in the outside and a lot of dirt is hidden inside (what with Governor Mutua’s super PR skills, studied upto PhD level and practiced to alevel of coalition government spokesman for 4 years) after several years in Nation Media, Dubai and Australia.
Below are some pointers as to why Machakos County is suffering:
1. Lack of focused, uncompromising MCAs
* MCAs that we elected into office have lost their focus and instead went on honeymoon with corruption and intimidation being the order of the day
2. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
* a lot of cash has been raised via revenue collected and cash released to the County by the national government but accounting on the same has been ignored.
3. IMPOSED SUBSTANDARD PROJECTS
* many projects that are of no significant importance and not of priority to the community have been used as rubber stamp for looting. A good example is the structure build at Bishop Ndingi on your way to Kithimani.
4. UNPLANNED PROCUREMENT
* Security is not a devolved issue but we have witnessed our county buying police stations security vehicles that are not of off road quality.
5. LACK OF MANAGERIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS
* Somebody is using our cash to perform litmus tests. No proper management of the County assets is in place and each day a county asset is ignorantly brought to its knees and no Disciplinary action to the perpetrator is taken.
Way forward
1. Vote in a Governor who has got managerial and administrative skills
2. Vote in MCAs who are educated and focused
3. Be fully involved in the budget estimates and projects implementation.
4. Push for establishment of independent commissions to monitor, evaluate and audit county projects.
5. Push for appointment of ward administrators with a clean record of administration in a reputable institution.
Let us wake up and face the reality.
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