WE WILL OPERATIONALIZE KATHWANA - DP RUTO

Deputy President William Ruto on his Wednesday tour of Tharaka Nithi County acknowledged the need to operationalize Kathwana as the county headquarters. According to Ruto, the government has set money for its upgrade as the county headquarters yet It has stalled and that they will ensure they rectify the mistakes. "This is the gazetted HQ of Tharaka Nithi. We have allocated money for its operations. We want all civil servants to relocate here.Both governments should operate from Kathwana", he said. Chuka Igambang'ombe MP Patrick Munene and Senator Kithure Kindiki joined in by saying there was need for Kathwana to be acknowledged as the County Headquarters. "This is the only headquarter in the 46 counties in the country that the County Commissioner doesn't operate from", Patrick Munene, MP. Kindiki noted the current Governor, Muthomi Njuki was allocated over 5B from the world bank and national government yet he has not used the money appropriately to ensure Kathwana is operational. "The National Government has built County Headquarters here but there's no one occupying the offices. When you get into power, ensure everyone in the government comes to Kathwana", Kindiki said. Chuka town tarmacking , Chuka Universty tarmacking, Tharaka Campus tarmacking, construction of Technical Training colleges in Maara, Chuka Igambang'ombe and Tharaka came out as projects completed by the government around the county. DP Ruto noted that Mati road, Gatunga- Marimanti roads are 80% complete while the Chuka-Kaareni was facing contract issues with new contractors expected to take over. The Magutuni-Kathwana road is 30% complete and also facing contract problems. According to Ruto, the electrification project in the county was ongoing with 53,000 residents connected so far. With 14 Million Kenyans listed in the CRB, the DP said 50 B will be allocated for micro small and medium enterprises. "If there is one crisis we should dwell on, and deal withis the issue of unemployment. As we had planned in the big four agenda, next year if elected, we will allocate 100B for job creation", he said. Agriculture and water provision in the county was also a topic of interest, with Ruto saying within the first 100 days of his term in office as president, Kithino Dam construction will be signed into contract to help water shortages in the county.