The Kakamega county administration has begun reclaiming decommissioned sewer ponds that have been grabbed by private developers.
Chief officer for Water Joseph Maloba has directed the Urban Water and Sanitation Corporation to fence off the disused lagoons and their buffer areas.
“We have asked the corporation to issue notices to those squatting on the land and the nearby access road,” Maloba said.
Maloba said that his office had scheduled a meeting with the department of lands, urban planning and housing next week to discuss the recovery of the land.
“The meeting will discuss the original cadastral maps for the town, placement of beacons and seek a way forward for evicting the encroachers,” Maloba said in his office.
He said that the corporation will begin a rehabilitation programme for the lagoons and the dilapidated sewer lines.
A fortnight ago, the water corporation CEO Fred Atwa said that the National Water Trust Fund was ready to support rehabilitation of the ponds but encroachment was a challenge.
The lagoons were reportedly decommissioned in 2012 under the defunct Kakamega municipal council but confusion abounds as the county leadership says there are no documents to that effect.
The buffer zone around the pond has been taken over by developers, mostly churches.
One of the developers is putting up a storey building on the buffer zone and has rerouted the sewer line to pave way for the project.
Residents around the ponds have been complaining to the county government about raw sewer being directed into streams with their sources in ravines in the municipality by the developers, without action.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya on Wednesday warned his cabinet and heads of departments over underperformance and negligence of duties.
"I am going to reorganise the government. If you haven't worked for the last two years start packing,” he said.
(edited by O. Owino)
