President William Ruto on Sunday, March 12, 2023, visited Tharaka Nithi county for an interdenominational thanksgiving service at Kirubia Stadium in Chuka, on his first tour of the county since election into office as the fifth president of Kenya.
In his speech, the president noted that his trip was necessitated by the will to appreciate the people of Tharaka Nithi for their overwhelming support during elections but most importantly to deliver on some of the promises and pledges made by the Kenya Kwanza brigade during campaigns.
Top on his list of goodies was the status of Chuka Referral Hospital which according to Ruto had received an upgrade to Level 5 status as per a gazette notice dated 10th March 2023.
“Chuka Level 4 hospital is now Level 5. We have agreed with the Ministry of Health represented here today by the Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha to equip the hospital to level 5 status”, he said.
On 6th February 2023, the Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha had toured the facility to assess its readiness towards an upgrade to a level 5 facility, where she highlighted a number of areas that needed improvement that included availability of MRI equipment in the hospital and working ICU and HDU facilities which had already been allocated space in the hospital.
Chogoria PCEA Mission Hospital and Komarock Hospital in Kathwana have also been elevated to Level 5 status in line with the Universal Health Coverage to ensure there are enough hospitals to improve healthcare in the country.
Referring to his campaign pledges made in July 2022 during his last campaign tour of the county, Ruto announced plans were in place to analyze a survey report to re-engineer the Nithi ‘Killer Bridge’, saying his government was ready to allocate funds in the next budget to see the re-engineering process kickstarts.
In his last visit, Ruto had promised re-engineering of the bridge in the first 6 months if elected to office while in 2017, Governor Muthomi Njuki in his 12-point 100 days in office as governor pledges had vowed to launch an initiative to re-engineer the bridge, which remains a black spot.
In Agriculture, Ruto noted that the National Government and County Governments were going to jointly work towards developing Special Economic Zones through County Aggregation Industrial Parks, saying the government had allocated Kshs 100 million for every county.
County Governments are expected to contribute a minimum of Kshs 100 million and make available 100 acres of land for the construction of the industrial parks.
According to Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, plans were underway to outsource the 100 acres of land needed from the Chuka University farm Kairini.
“We have invested KShs 100 million to every county and have asked the County Governments to also invest KShs 100 million and also provide land. I am happy that land in Kairini will be outsourced for the Industrial Park”, he said.
The government has also pledged to provide over 18 milk coolants in the county within the next few months to help in dairy farming value addition.
In Trade, Chogoria, Marimanti and Kathwana markets are set for upgrades to modern markets.
“We must develop our markets so that our traders and businesspeople can work in habitable and proper conditions to grow our economy from bottom-up”, Ruto added.
In a bid to create water security in the county, Ruto announced plans were underway for the construction of High Grand Falls, Kithiino and Ruguti dams to help provide water in the county and solve the water shortage menace.
“We have agreed on water availability through dams to solve this water shortage issue. High Grand Falls, Kithiino and Ruguti dams are in consideration as the government strives to provide water. Those dams are in our plans”, he said.
In Sports, Ruto announced plans to have Kirubia Stadium complete and up to standard.
On February 10th, 2023, in a visit to the stadium, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports & The Arts Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba had directed the Kirubia Stadium contractor to get back to site, noting its deplorable state yet the stadium had not been officially commissioned.
The president also promised to facilitate and fund the completion of the County Headquarters within the next two years.
In January 2023, Governor Njuki addressing the Senate Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations stated that the project had stagnated due to the grant offered by the national government to 5 counties for county headquarters infrastructure.
According to Njuki, the funds were channeled through Public Works ministry, with bureaucracies hindering the availability of funds and completion of the project which is 60% complete.
Ruto also pledged to support the construction of the Assembly Chambers that had stalled since 2015 after it was allegedly flagged by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Speaker John Mbabu has on previous occasions accused the county executive of allocating money for the assembly structure and re-allocating it under supplementary budgets to other projects on grounds that there was a pending EACC case.
While defending the county assembly during the Senate Committee on Devolution visit to the county, Mbabu noted that there was no pending case between the assembly and EACC on the subject of assembly chambers while Njuki asked the committee to look into the EACC investigation to allow the completion of the chambers, saying the executive needed greenlight from commission to fund projects.
Ruto asked that the MCA’s re-structure and re-develop the infrastructure to a lower budget to about Kshs 200 million from KShs 360 million.
Photo: Courtesy
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