Migori Governor Okoth Obado on Thursday launched a Sh50 million fire engine, which has been at the centre of Senate Public Accounts Committee probe.
Obado launched the fully equipped engine at his office in Migori town to end criticism on his administration on disaster preparedness.
The governor termed the launch as a “a big achievement to Migori,” to help mitigate on emergencies, especially school infernos that have risen in the county in the recent past.
"Even as we launch this fire engine, I would like to call upon the environment department to create public awareness on the need to have such an equipment amongst our midst and various types of fire," Obado said.
He challenged the roads department to open more roads in Migori for accessibility.
"The county government will be forced to pull down structures along the access roads. We don't want to be blamed for not being able to access houses when there is an emergency. I'm urging those with building along these roads to comply," said Obado.
Migori County Chief Officer for Environment and Disaster management Joshua Ngwala said the machine has the capacity to carry 7,500 litres of water including 500 litres of foam.
On May this year, Obado, appearing before the senate Public Accounts Committee headed by Homa Bay senator Moses Kajwang’, was at pains to explain how fire gutted down the procurement office with all receipts and has never offered any backup.
He was tasked on why Migori was yet to buy a fire engine which saw receipts worth Sh1.5 billion on expenditure, go up in flames.
On September 24, 2017, the Migori county government procurement offices were burnt down to ashes after fire broke out twice at same night in the governor’s office compound.
