[Kisii County aspiring Women Representive Doris Aburi in a past event. She has vowed to tackled piped water shortage if elected. Photo/Nation]
Kisii County Jubilee Women Representative aspirant Donya Aburi has vowed to tackle lack of piped water systems in the region if elected.
She mentioned the county’s lack of piped water as a cause of many wasted hours spent by women in fetching water from rivers, saying her tenure would be spent in addressing the issue.
“Our perennial water shortage has forced our women to trek for long distances in search of the precious liquid. This has led to many wasted hours that could have been better used in more profitable activities,” said Ms Aburi.
She said the work of women representatives had been misunderstood by many and equated to that of MPs who control the Constituency Development Fund kitty as compared to the much smaller women’s National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
“Since the inception of the NGAAF, we have been expected to build roads, provide piped water, renovate school facilities, sponsor needy children’s education and provide grants to groups engaged in small scale enterprises. This has been rendered impossible by the meagre funds allocated to women reps by the State, making the work an impossible challenge,” said Ms Aburi.
She said she would prioritize the provision of piped water to homesteads in the region, adding that it had suffered from the problem since independence.
“It is a tragedy for a water-rich zone like Kisii to suffer from lack of piped water yet the rainy season regularly brings in millions of cubic litres of water. In most of the county, our poor women and girls have borne this burden since independence,” she said.
Ms Aburi said the region did not have established water harvesting policies or systems to enable its 1.3 million residents reap maximum benefits from its reserves.
“We enjoy heavy rains every year only to see the runoff from the resulting flow of water go to waste as it drains into faraway rivers, leaving our women with no option but to trek for many kilometres to fetch water. Our county must come up with proper water harvesting systems to enable us tap the resource for maximum utilization and convenience for our people,” she said.
Ms Aburi said she would also table a motion in the Assembly to allocate resources for the construction of a dam to tap the river water in the region, saying it could even be used in the generation of hydroelectric power.
“I will move a motion to dam the region’s river water from rivers like Riana, and Gucha and so that we use it for illegal hydroelectric power generation,” said Ms Aburi.
She promised to ensure the revival of the proposed county water harvesting master plan, saying its implementation would go a long way in ensuring proper water use in the region.
“I will work closely with the national and county governments to ensure that the plan is implemented in all phases, including the purchase of water tanks for disadvantaged homesteads,” said Ms Aburi.
The former Egesa FM radio personality who clinched the Jubilee nominations in the recently concluded party primaries was addressing the press at a briefing in Kisii Town yesterday when she made the remarks.
Ms Aburi promised to ensure adequate representation for the county’s women, youth and disabled, saying their concerns had been allocated a back seat in the current parliament.
“Our women, youth and disabled require adequate representation in the current parliament so that their interests and concerns are addressed. I will commit myself to ensuring that I table all their concerns in order to secure maximum government assistance for them,” said Ms Aburi.