National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula on Monday presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the modern debating chamber and the digital skills laboratory at the Bungoma County assembly.
Speaker Wetang’ula in his address asked Kenyans to embrace digital knowledge saying it is the way to go.
"I urge Bungoma MCAs to pass good laws and make the old chambers a museum where the National government will allocate the funds for maintenance," he said.
The County assembly clerk Charles Wafula noted that the digital laboratory comes after the assembly requested to have an ICT lab set up within the Assembly premises.
“The digital laboratory comes after we requested the President during his tour in Bungoma that we wished to have a digital laboratory at our assembly premises,” the clerk noted.
In addition, Wafula pointed out that the assembly has passed a number of legislation and set in motion a lot of development projects.
“I am happy to report that we shall soon be starting the Construction of the Speaker's Official residence,” he said.
He added that even as they collaborate with the Governor, their independence as a House has not been compromised.
“We are not in bed with the Executive. We shall continue keeping the Executive on their toes to ensure quality service delivery and development for the people of our great County Bungoma,” he told the Star.
He revealed that the current Chamber was built in 1956 during the colonial era and was used by the defunct Bungoma County Council before being inherited by the County Assembly.
He said many renovations have been done but the initial foundation that was laid and the walls have stood strong.
“The old chamber has stood the test of time. Great decisions have been made inside these chambers but we feel it is time to have a modern Chamber with ultra-modern facilities,” he said.
However, Wafula says that another key project that is dear to the hearts of the County Assembly fraternity is the launch of the digital skills laboratory.
He affirmed that it is a visionary initiative that was brought to fruition through the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of ICT, the Konza Metropolis team and the assembly’s ICT and research departments.
“We recently signed an MOU with Kibabii University to share some of the ICT infrastructure that the two Institutions have,” Wafula added.
“Students from Kibabii University will benefit from this Lab. They will undertake their research and other ICT-related assignments from this facility. The Lab will go a long way in supporting both our honourable Members and staff in the discharge of their duties," he said.
