- MPs met PS Water at Maji House on Wednesday.
- The lawmakers have planned similar visits to Treasury.
Image: FILE
Some lawmakers from Athi River Basin are pushing for compensation of victims of the Sh24 billion Karimenu II dam.
Led by Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa and Gatanga MP Edward Muriu, the leaders are now pushing for long lasting solutions to hundreds of residents affected multi-billion shilling project before the works start on the Ruiru II dam project.
There has been an outcry from residents of Kianjuku in Gatundu North over backflow from the mega dam project.
Speaking to the press after meeting Water PS Kipronoh Ronoh, the Kiambu senator said a record 150 acres of land has been affected by the constant backflow from the dam.
The lawmaker warned against any attempt to divert the cash meant to compensate the victims, whom he noted are suffering and need immediate attention.
“The dam is complete and now the residents are suffering instead of benefiting. We want the government to fully compensate the affected residents. Why start another dam project yet you have not finished compensating affected people?” posed Thang’wa
According to Thang’wa, the meeting agreed that the government will soon compensate the victims and no one will be disadvantaged.
He equally urged residents to shelve earlier plans to take the government to court over the issue, that he noted is now getting attention from the highest level of government.
The dam project is projected to supply 70 million litres of water daily to the over one million people in Gatundu, Juja, Ruiru and parts of Nairobi.
According to Muriu, the compensation deadlock was more of a budgetary issue. He assured residents that their compensation will not be diverted.
“We want to ensure money to complete pending projects and compensate people where dams have been built is not diverted,” Muriu said.
“The PS has tabled the budget for the projects and we are satisfied with everything,” he said.
“We want to find out what the National Lands Commission is doing to compensate the affected people,” added Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara.
Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe said the compensation will prioritise all whose land were taken by the project.
“The most important thing is our people get compensated as their land has been taken as well as get water. They should be paid first. They conserve the water ecosystem yet they don’t benefit from the resource,” Kagombe said.
The MPs also downplayed the rift between the Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome and PS Ronoh. The PS assured them that all is well.