Homabay county governor Gladys Wanga has promised to build at least one ECD centre in each ward in the financial year 2022/2023.
The governor said there were many projects that needed attention but the resources required were scarce and asked residents to give some projects priorities.
The governor said the ECD centers were not budgeted for but would be catered for through a supplementary budget
Governor Wanga made the promise Wednesday during public participation for County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) held in Kosele county hall for Central Kasipul ward where residents presented their views on the projects required.
During the event also attended by Deputy Governor Oyugi Mawanga, presenter after presenter from the three locations in Central Kasipul ward proposed the construction of ECD center in each of the public primary schools in the ward.
They argued that in the last 10 years of county government, only one ECD centre had been constructed.
“We have 15 public primary schools in North Kamagak location but only one school has an ECD centre, Ochungno primary school only,” said Esau Owino who presented proposals from residents of Kamagak location.
However, the governor said more ECD centre at least 4-5 per ward would be built later from June next year when they would have been factored in the budget.
To come up with the CIDP, Governor Wanga said they were using a model of public participation that starts from the village with village clusters to sub ward or locations to wards, and finally to sub county and county level.
The governor asked residents to ensure no project is done without the project management committees (PMCs) and if such anomaly is detected, it should be reported to the MCA and the ward administrators for action to be taken.
The deputy governor who is also CECM for Agriculture urged the residents to support the government to ensure there is development in Homabay County.
He reminded residents that they have an institutional memory of what has been proposed and endorsed up to ward level “so don’t turn back on what you have proposed to blame the governor, and say the governor is not working”.
