The Public Service Commission (PSC) has commended the public officers on the role they play in delivering government projects which they termed as citizen centric and offered the citizenry and opportunity to savor public services.
Speaking Friday at Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga County during a visit to government projects accompanied by the team from Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), Commissioner Mary Mwianda and Andrew Ndambiri said that they are visiting various projects to see how they were done and ways of making delivery better.
Thiba Dam was completed this year at a cost of Sh7.8 billion and is expected to provide continuous flow of water to Mwea Irrigation scheme. The farmers will be able to grow rice twice a year doubling the production. The area under irrigation will also increase by 10000 acres.
Mary Mwianda said their role is to appreciate what public service has done to benefit the public.
“Ours is to appreciate work done by the public service in partnering with other stakeholders to ensure the ordinary citizens of this region will benefit from the water,” Mwianda said.
“As a commission we are citizen centric in approach, and we want to see that work done bring smiles to the people,” she added.
On his part, Mr. Ndambiri said the PSC business is to make sure the country has skills to deliver projects within set timeframe and budget.
He also said that the PSC is to ensure that the public servants are doing what they are supposed to do and that the good things are replicated in all government projects.
“When we see such projects like this having been delivered on time it’s the interest of PSC because we have the right skills,”
“Another reason why we are here is to ensure public service workers are doing what they are supposed to do. We are happy that our workers are the ones delivering,” Ndambiri said.
Central Regional Commissioner Esther Maina said the delivery of projects is all government approach, and completion of Thiba Dam has been due to collaboration among Regional Development Implementation and Coordination Committee (RDICC), National Irrigation Authority, Presidential Delivery Unit, and the general public.
“I want to thank all agencies that enabled us to deliver the project,” Ms Maina said.
Andrew Wakihiu, Secretary PDU, said Thiba Dam has a capacity 15 million cubic meters and already has impounded 7 million cubic meters and the dam is in use.
“The project is complete; it is already in use. The President will come to officially open before leaving office,”
“We have started impounding water, the dam has a capacity of 15 million cubic meters and we already have 7 million with 8 million cubic meters to go,” Wakihiu said.
He also noted they are adding over 14 km of canals in new 10000 acres as well as rehabilitating the old ones. Wakihiu confirmed that by the time the dam is filled to full capacity all canals will be complete.
“The canal downstream in Mwea has been there for decades and we are rehabilitating them. We are adding around 14km of canals,” he added
“In the new 10000 acres we are adding, the canal construction has already commenced,” he concluded.
