By Alvin Ratemo
Nyamira County government has finally signed the Keroka Municipal charter.
Governor Amos Nyaribo signed the charter in his office in Nyamira town on Tuesday Morning.
After the signing of the charter, it will wait gazettement and after that it will be fully operational as a municipality
“Urban areas in Nyamira have been growing both in population and amenities. It is with this honor I have signed the charter to elevate Keroka into a Municipality status in line with the Urban areas and cities act 2011,” Nyaribo said.
According to Nyaribo, the town has centrality for business and transport availability plus its robust financial viability enabled gives it an ideal ability to be a municipality.
“I have immediately engaged the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development through Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) to assess projects for Keroka Municipality. A team from the Ministry will visit Keroka tomorrow to assess the projects,” Nyaribo added.
With a population of 107,922 that exceeds the 50,000 threshold, the town is to be elevated under the act.
Last week, the County Assembly of Nyamira unanimously adopted a report by an ad hoc committee to elevate Keroka to a Municipality and have its headquarters at Rigoma.
Nyaribo said he believes the elevation of Keroka Municipality will go a great stride in ensuring sufficient service delivery to the residents of Keroka and Nyamira as a whole.
“The Municipality will have its own operations and will be carrying out its duties independently after it is operational, even the grants and other donations will be directly channeled to the municipality so that residents can get services directly, ” Nyaribo noted.
Keroka will be the Second Municipality after Nyamira Municipality, with governor Nyaribo saying a third Municipality will be unveiled when the right time comes.
On whether the pending boundary row will affect the process of elevation into municipality, the governor said the act allows them to continue with operations until the matter in court is determined.
“That has no big deal because we have an assurance by the act that we will still proceed with the process as the courts settle the issue,” he said.
