Uasin Gishu Governor, Jackson Mandago, on Monday signed a municipality charter, which is in line with the Urban Areas and Cities Act, that requires towns to have municipality offices before eyeing city status.
Under the charter, a board will be established to run Eldoret town, ensuring services are provided to the residents, as well as following up on implementation and compliance policies set out by both national and county governments.
The board will also ensure the participation of residents in decision-making as well as in the town’s activities and programmes.
Moreso, it will set up infrastructural facilities such as roads, street lighting, markets and fire stations, and an adequate capacity for disaster management.
According to Uasin Gishu Lands Executive Nelson Maritim, the charter would clearly spell out the composition of the nine-member board.
“In the board, we will have the manager doing delegated functions of county executives and departments which will be key in discharging their mandates through solid waste management, traffic and planning, collection of fees among other functions,” he commented.
Maritim also announced that Uasin Gishu was set to receive Kshs630 million from World Bank, which would finance various projects including construction of roads and houses in informal settlements.
Besides, it will also focus on beautification and increasing footpaths in the town by 8 kilometres.
Expounding further, he revealed that if the county manages its municipality well, they will also bid money from Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED).
At the same time, deputy governor Daniel Chemno noted that Eldoret was a gateway to East Africa and that having a board would enable them plan well and attract more investors, leading to transformation in the region.
The county is expected to gazette the charter this week in order to give room for the creation of the board.
Currently, Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa are the only cities in Kenya. Other towns eyeing city status include Nakuru and Nyeri.
Nevertheless, the President still has to give the final nod before any town is elevated to city status.
According to section 5 of the Urban Areas and Cities Act, “The President may, on the resolution of the Senate, confer the status of a city on a municipality that meets the criteria set out in section 5, by grant of a charter in the prescribed form.”
