Migori county Governor, Ochilo Ayacko has heaped blames on his predecessor on the unfinanced county debts, saying that has it has been holding his administration hostage.
In a speech read by his representative at Migori stadium on Madaraka day, the governor said that he found a nearly collapsed county departments that he has to bring back to life.
“I found a run down administration with almost all departments crippled financially, making the administration dysfunctional, read the speech in part.
In his speech, the governor reiterated that most of the offices did not have water due to the huge debts left by the first governor, Okoth Obado.
He said that at the time if resumption of office, the district hospitals and the referral suffered lack of water which made key services stalled.
Ochilo in his speech added that his administration has made efforts to solve key problems among them, weeding out the ghost county employees to ensure a clean payroll.
Among the steps taken by the governor was the county employee headcount and audits which was geared towards lowering the money spent on county salaries and to induct the employees.
“To begin with, my administration had to carry out employees headcount to weed out ghost workers and induct the qualified ones to work in line with realization of our agenda,” read the speech.
The county boss said that his administration further has started county bursary program in order to ensure continuous learning especially for children from vulnerable backgrounds.
“We have bursary programs for our students to Shs120 million this financial year that will support our children’s education,” said the governor in his speech.
Recently, the governor dispatched the last batch of county bursary to needy students, a move that was themed to ensure access to education to all children at vocational training colleges.
This was also to continue with the county scholarship program that was started by the former governor Okoth Obado to ensure affordable education to needy students in the county.
He stressed his commitment for access to affordable education through putting up 120 Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) classrooms in the County.
“We are undertaking a project to build 120 ECDE classes, a project that will cost more than Ksh 77 million in this County,” read the speech partly.
The governor also said that his administration has already financed Ksh280 million Kenya Medical Supply Association (KEMSA) debts in and further secured drug supply in all the 16 district hospitals in the County.
The improvements also include redefining agricultural department to boost small scale farmers in order to boost the food security in Migori.
“Within the last days of agricultural sector development sector programs and we are finalizing to support small scale farmers,” said Ochilo in his speech.
In his speech, he further said that the pending water and electricity bills have been paid and that the county has embarked into connecting a total of 8,000 households to water.
Ochilo further said that the administration is working to unlock global funding to benefit four million residents in the county by creating programs for financing the local led climate change action in Migori.
He added that the County government has secured a matching fund from the national government for center for aggregation and industrial park at Sh500 million.
The fund is meant for value addition for the agricultural produce in this county by securing agricultural farm inputs.
He called upon the county leaders to work in coordination through oversight and legislation to ensure that the projects become a reality that will benefit the people of Migori.
IAN BYRON