Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday announced plans to initiate the opening and completion of an airport in Embu County after complaints from local leaders.
Speaking during a church service in Manyatta, the DP was informed that Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen was reluctant to open the airport despite it being idle for several years.
Gachagua revealed that he would hold a meeting with the CS to chart the way forward.
"I will talk to Murkomen, Embu is far from Nairobi and he should not dismiss that. We will plan and see ways to make it functional or even an expansion," Gachagua stated.
According to the MP John Gitonga, Murkomen claimed that Embu County was near Nairobi and thus did not need an airport.
Gitonga however argued that the county needed a fast means of transport to ferry perishable goods to the capital including Miraa.
"We want the airport to be opened so that we can ferry the horticultural goods from the county. This will reduce the road accidents caused by miraa vehicles," Gitonga stated.
Besides the airport, Gachagua also addressed the matter of cartels in the coffee industry promising to end the menace in Embu and other Mt Kenya counties.
Additionally, the Second in Command reiterated that the economy was in a bad state when they took over in September 2022. He argued that the Kenya Kwanza government had tirelessly worked to stabilise the economy.
He urged Kenyans to be patient with the government as they continue to repay loans and grow the economy.
Gachagua also revealed his plans to nurture the young leaders in Mt Kenya to avoid a replication of the leadership vacuum witnessed in Mt. Kenya leadership when former President Uhuru Kenyatta left office.
