- Irrigation authority official says the residents' main demand is they want water from the project.
- He said this is impossible as the water would have to be pumped to their homes yet the project will use gravity.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA
He [Chief] wanted to get a generator that the contractor had left in a nearby home but we stopped him and told him to come back on Friday when we plan to drain it ourselves because we have given him our complaints before and he took no actionWambugu
The completion of a Sh263 million water project in Mathioya remains uncertain as push and pull between residents and the irrigation authority continues.
The project's intake along Mathioya River is at Kanjama village in Mathioya subcounty.
The project is however meant to serve Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga residents in Murang'a East subcounty.
This has made the village folk unhappy.
They have accused the National Irrigation Authority of imposing the project on them yet it has failed to compensate them.
The contractor left the incomplete project in June.
Since then run-off water has collected at the site forming a huge pool that residents say has become a mosquito breeding ground, exposing them to malaria.
Speaking to journalists, they called for provision of mosquito nets and insecticides. They also want the stagnant water drained.
But the authority said the contractor fled the site after the community grew hostile over compensation.
It said it had however directed him to return to the site on Wednesday to drain the stagnant water.
Mt Kenya West National Irrigation Authority coordinator Joseph Muchina said officials were sent to the site but found locals who said they did not want the water drained.
“The officials were told that the water would not be drained until Friday when the locals have scheduled a meeting at the site. They had pangas so our people were afraid and left. The contractor was also on the way to the site,” he said.
Muchina said the locals’ main demand is they want water from the project.
He said this is impossible as the water would have to be pumped to their homes yet the project will use gravity.
“What is coming out is their biggest issue is not mosquito infestation. They want to get some of the water failure to which they will not give us the way leave to instal pipes,” Muchina said.
He said the project's management committee will be tasked to reach out to the villagers to allow its completion "because we cannot forcibly instal pipes on their farms".
Muchina said if the project is grounded, residents of the semi-arid Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga will be unable to practise irrigation farming.
“The contractor was ready to drain the water and fill the open channels but cannot do so if the community does not want him there. We have contacted local administrators to attend the Friday meeting since we have not been invited,” he said.
Those whose farms will be affected by the installation of the pipes will be paid for the damages, Muchina said.
He said minutes of the meetings held with the residents to discuss the project are available, including the signed consent forms.
Beatrice Wambugu, a resident, said the chief went to the site accompanied by a man to drain the water using a pump.
"He wanted to get a generator that the contractor had left in a nearby home but we stopped him and told him to come back on Friday when we plan to drain it ourselves because we have given him our complaints before and he took no action," she said.
Construction started in August last year and was to end in February. The project is 16 per cent complete.
When completed, it will enable irrigation of 585 acres and will serve 1,170 homesteads.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya