By Anthony Zoka
Rabai residents are a disappointed lot after efforts to engage local leaders in county government Kilifi to chat way forward on matters development, partially failing with only 3 leaders turning for dialogue with the community.
According to the chairperson of a community-based organization, Rabai Progressive association, George Dzoro, failure by section of county leaders from Rabai sub county was a sign of disrespect to residents.
“We called on this meeting today to dialogue with leaders and professionals from county government, but to our disappointment only 3 leaders from Rabai, among them area Member of national assembly, Anthony Kenga, Ruruma MCA, Naphtali Kombo and his Mwawesa counterpart Kalama Mumba who turned up to answer questions from residents.” Said Dzoro.
He claimed that Rabai residents feel neglected adding that plans are on to further engage all the leaders who failed to honor their invitation as a way of bringing solution to challenges facing residents.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Ruphence Ayub who called on residents of Rabai holding positions in the county government of Kilifi, to work together to address under development within Rabai sub county.
Rabai residents through RPA wanted to have official statements from officials in the county government of Kilifi plus both elected and nominated members of county assembly something which was not realized fully as Kambe Ribe and Rabai Kisurutini residents had no one to address their concern.
RPA advisor, David Mvuko, who emphasized one the unity of local leadership in addressing issues affecting Rabai residents.
Mvuko insisted on the need for a collecting responsibility in ensuring Rabai moves forward. According to him, there is a need for collective responsibility to address emerging issues.
“Our concern is on the incomplete projects as well as the emerging issues of elderly killings which need to be addressed. This can be achieved if both arms of government can work together and bring in the necessary infrastructure including lobbying for increment of police stations within Rabai.” Noted Mvuko.
However, Rabai Member of national assembly, Anthony Kenga, thanked the organizers for adding that such a platform gives opportunity for the residents to understand the planned development programs by leaders.
“To me this was a nice idea and should be coming in after 3 months for us elected leaders to inform the community of the plans we have and also a way of following up the expectations of our electorate.” Noted Kenga.
Kenga said that he had an opportunity to address the Rabai residents answering issues being raised on social media platforms.
According to him, such forums give opportunities for leaders to give facts on emerging issues within the society, calling on all leaders to consider attending such forums to dialogue with the community.
During the meeting, MCAs unanimously admitted having challenges in the project implementation process within Rabai due to division among Rabai leaders despite uneven flow of funds from national government to counties.
According to Ruruma ward MCA, Naphtali Kombo, there is a need to have elected and nominated leaders to jointly lobby for speedy implementation of projects for the benefit of the locals.
“A single leader lobbying for implementation of projects might not yield the required results, especially during these hard economic times where disbursement of cash is unpredictable. We need to gang up and lobby as a team for the success of Rabai.” Noted Kombo.
