Konza city factor in Kilome politics spills to counties – Weekly Citizen

Residents of Kilome constituency are up in arms against their leaders for not agitating for the youth of the area and other professionals to get jobs at the Konza technocity that is now taking shape. According to the residents, by virtue of the fact that they are the hosts of the digital city, they deserve to get the first priority so long as they are qualified for the positions. Sadly, they say, there seems to be no deliberate efforts coming from their leaders towards that end. It is worth noting that although Ukambani political kingpin Kalonzo Musyoka has been to the budding town twice this year, he never raised the issue. All Kalonzo did was to heap praise to the government for the town that is now just getting off the ground after over a decade in limbo. Leading the calls of demands for jobs for the area youth is a Kilome parliamentary aspirant Steve Ndaani who says the benefits of the information communication and telecommunication complex must first and foremost be felt by the people of Kilome.

Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka

The area MP Thadeus Nzambia does not seem to even realise that the upcoming city is in his area of jurisdiction. Not a single day has he paid a courtesy call to the site that is now bursting with activity. Kilome youth are of the view that Nzambia should have stormed the place carrying 1000 youth and demanded that they get employment as mjengo men, engineers and machine operators. Also being blamed for pushing for opportunities for locals in the technopolis is Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana who has not even once been to the area that will change the fortunes of the county for the better especially when it comes to paying taxes by the companies that will set camp there as well as from the housing estates and other businesses therein. There are even those who say that the county of Makueni has not offered the city of Konza the desired moral support and this they attribute to the fact that Kibwana who comes from the far reaches of southern Makueni seems not to pride in the project that is the northern most tip of Makueni.

Thadeus Nzambia

The city borders Machakos county on one side and Kajiado side on the other and there was a time when Machakos governor Alfred Mutua tried to claim it was geographically in his territory only for political and administrative factors to prove him wrong. The people of the area vote for Makueni representatives and they also seek administrative services from Wote headquarters in Makueni. Even the county of Kitui has laid a stake in Konza city citing the fact that the water that will be used in the new town will be coming from Kitui county. Thwake dam that is purposely being built to be Konza city’s water source is between the border of Kitui and Makueni counties at the confluence of rivers Thwake and Athi River which also happens to be the borderline of the two counties at that point. The dam will therefore traverse the two counties. As such, Kitui county is seeking to have water provision contracts signed between it and Konza to avoid a situation like Murang’a has found itself in whereby the main water source for Nairobi city, the Ndakaini Dam, is in Murang’a but Murang’a gets nothing from the water that Nairobi city county sells to the inhabitants of Nairobi.

Kivutha Kibwana

It is against this background that Kitui wants to have part of the money that Konza city management will be making from selling Thwake water go to it. To assuage the people, it has been suggested that Kitui and Makueni counties will have huge swathes of land irrigated using Thwake Dam waters. The dam will also be used to produce hydrothermal power and this is also another area where the counties of Kitui and Makueni have been urged to be open eyed lest they be left with nothing in terms of the profits of the proceeds of the electricity that will be produced. Thwake Dam is going to be the largest dam in East and Central Africa. When it is completed, it is going to be 10 times the size of Masinga Dam which is the biggest in Kenya. The people of Makueni fear that just like in Masinga, they might be left thirsty, unless plans are put in place to have the water supplied to the surrounding area. In Masinga, villages still are without piped water and people daily put their lives in danger fetching water from the dam’s shores where crocodiles lie in wait.

Alfred Mutua

It is this kind of problems that the people of Makueni want their leaders to solve in advance bearing in mind the lessons from Masinga. There have even been suggestions that Konza city management signs a contract with the people of Makueni and Kitui to have then become the sole suppliers of fruits and vegetables to the city with crops that will be produced in the irrigation schemes of Thwake dam. As for the electricity to be produced in Thwake, there have been suggestions that the people from the area have their electricity subsidised. With demands like this, it is not likely that the current leaders have the capacity to negotiate a favourable deal for their people. What is clear is that the issue is going to become a talking point in the campaigns for Makueni constituency and Kitui West constituency which border the dam as well as the constituencies that have the water pipes run through them such as Kaiti and Mbooni. Those eyeing Kilome seat are Onesmus Kimata, Cleophas Muli alias Mtumishi and Pascal Wambua who has four goals; economic empowerment, environmental conservation, mental awareness and agribusiness. Another aspirant is Amos Mumaka who says leadership and development are inseparable.