BY KIRUGA THUKU
I have seen all manner of comments towards a similar billboard concerning a project in another Ward in Nyeri county.
I cannot, however, tell whether the sign board was done by people who were just out to create a fight towards the county government or whether it was an outright tactic just meant to create sensationalisation.
The truth about these signboards is that we found so much misuse of county funds by some unscrupulous contractors in the past regime. After a meeting between all the county MCAs and officials from the infrastructure department, it was agreed that contractors will be adding photos of the governor, Mutahi Kahiga, and those of MCAs to all sign boards for projects being undertaken by the county government of Nyeri at no extra cost.
This is simply because it’s the MCAs who present these projects to the county government on behalf of their people, and it’s the county government that implements them with the close oversight of the MCAs. (The governor didn’t even attend that meeting).
The logic behind this is simply that no person would want their photo to appear on these signboards and have a shoddy job done on the project outlined.This is the reason why so many projects have been undertaken in Nyeri county presently and to very high standards. This formula has ensured proper workmanship on projects and saved wananchi from loosing money in shoddy projects.
In the ward I lead today, word goes around how a former elected leader used to obtain contracts with his company hence being the contractor in projects which he was meant to oversight! Needless to say, none of those projects was tangible by the time he left office.
So, if having these photos on the billboards is the price we have to pay to improve transparency and accountability in Nyeri county, so be it!
If being insulted for them is an additional price, I am guilty as charged. I bear personal responsibility for this, which we did in an attempt to save public resources.
If people are guilty for doing this, I am guilty number one for I was part of formulating this system in order to bear personal responsibility on these projects hence guarding against misuse of public resources.
