President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that the ongoing renovations at the Kisumu Port must be complete within the next three weeks.
According to Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathews Owilli, the Head of State gave the ultimatum to engineers and contractors handling the facelift during his visit on Saturday.
Owilli was among leaders who accompanied Uhuru during his secret tour of the port and has confirmed that he expressed concerns at the sluggish speed at which the job is moving.
“He cautioned the contractors after expressing concern about the speed with which they are doing the job. He is serious about this port and that is why he insisted it must be done faster,” Owilli is quoted by the People Daily.
He says that Uhuru reassured the county leadership of his commitment to seeing the port operational, and ordered that everything must be up and running by August 15.
“He wants everything to be in place before the launch and he is very strict to the departmental heads in charge,” he added.
The launch is set for August 15.
Presidents Felix Tsishekedi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), John Magufuli (Tanzania) and Paul Kagame (Rwanda) are expwcted to attend.
The tour which came days after former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's similar low profile visit saw Uhuru hold a 30-minute meeting with the engineers and Kenya Navy officials at the port.
The media was locked out of the meeting and the entire tour of the port.