A section of Kilifi residents have endorsed Gideon Mung’aro as their preferred governor candidate terming him as a performer and this is after Mung’aro unveiled his manifesto to the public.
The residents said that if implemented, the manifesto will turn around the economy and livelihood of residents in an area where poverty is rampant.
Kilifi County is among the top counties in Kenya that have acute water supply, hunger and high illiteracy levels despite having the potential to be self-reliant.
In his manifesto, Mung’aro termed corruption as an impediment to development and vowed to deal with it so that the other agenda in his manifesto can be implemented appropriately.
Miss. Elizabeth Hinzano, a primary school teacher from Kilifi town said that the former Devolution Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) is a man of his words and that his past performances in public office were a testimony.
Mung’aro has been a Mayor of Malindi Municipal Council before being the Malindi MP and he moved to the newly created Kilifi North constituency in 2013 where he served as MP. He vied for the Governor seat in the 2017 general election under the Jubilee party but was mercilessly trounced by Governor Amason Kingi who was then vying on the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
“We trust in Mung’aro because we have seen his past performance as MP in Malindi and Kilifi North constituencies. In his manifesto, he has said that he will empower young mothers and also enable those who dropped out of school due to early pregnancy continue with their education,” said Miss. Hinzano.
She also added that the fight against corruption was a promising agenda in the manifesto that will enable the county offer services efficiently without the worry of discrimination.
Mr. Ambrose Nyandoro, a youth from Malindi town said that the corruption being witnessed in the County especially on boda boda operators had denied residents’ services as operators with money to bribe county askaris had an upper hand in business.
“He has touched on corruption which has been a headache especially to boda boda operators who have a daily run in with county askaris that extort them. He said that he will digitize revenue collection to weed out rogue officers and that is a core cure for underdevelopment since no business person will be discriminated against,” said Mr. Nyandoro.
Mr. Charo Charo from Ganze Sub County described the manifesto as a promising document saying that he believes Mung’aro will stick to his word.
He claimed that the kazi kwa vijana programme if revived will create employment to many youth hence reduce idleness and crime in society.
“In the manifesto there are plans to improve Kazi kwa vijana the same way the Azimio presidential candidate has put in his manifesto and if that is implemented and I am confident it will, then it will go a long way in empowering the youth. There are others who are saying that kazi ni kazi yet some of us the youth are learned and need decent jobs,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Mr. Mitungu Mitungu who said that Kilifi County will be a role model to other counties if Mung’aro makes it to be the next Governor adding that the candidate has a track record of performing whenever he is given a chance.
“The manifesto is transformative and people of Kilifi County will benefit and after five years, people from other counties will come to benchmark here. He has promised to work on water issues that have been a problem for years,” he said.
During the launch of their manifesto at the Pwani University grounds, Mung’aro’s running mate Florah Chibule said that fighting corruption will be their number one agenda.
“Corruption is corruption and it ranges from illegal purchase of services and absconding duties and we will come up with a digital system where county employees will be using their thumbs to log in and log out of the workplace, this will enhance service delivery hence reduce corruption,” she said.
She added that education will get a lot of attention from their administration and feeding programmes in Early Childhood Development Centres will be introduced to attract more children to school as well as full scholarships to Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates from poor backgrounds who score more than 350 marks and full university scholarships for those students who excel in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
“We will also introduce school feeding programmes in our Early Childhood Development Centers which will attract more children to school and also give full scholarships for candidates who score 350 and above and excel in their secondary education so that we can make more residents employable,” she said.
Mr. Mung’aro outlined four key areas that he will give priority that include fighting corruption, solving the water problem and agriculture, improving health service delivery, industrialization and education which he termed as critical in improving the livelihood and development of the county.
“Our main agenda is fighting corruption and we will serve residents in an open governance system and we will invest in health, water, agriculture, industrialization and tourism,” he said.
Mr. Mung’aro who has also served as Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) for lands in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government said that he will partner with the national government to solve the squatter problem in the area.
“When it comes to land matters, we shall help the national government in identifying land to purchase for squatters and the County will survey those lands and forward the reports to the ministry of lands so that they can process title deeds for residents to eradicate the squatter problem,” he said.
Biko Steve 
IAN BYRON