Bura municipality board sworn in, urged to uplift town

Bura municipality in Garissa county has been fully operationalised after board members were sworn in on Wednesday.

The seven board members are expected to assume their duties immediately.

They were sworn into office by Garissa Chief Magistrate Stephen Mbungi.

The board will be chaired by Mohamed Kharbat and has Ibrahim Khalif, Mahat Bashir, Elias Lebi, Abdirauf Abdi, Halima Gure and Nasra Gure as members.

Bura Municipality, which was launched on October 20 last year during the Mashujaa celebrations is the fourth in the county.

Other municipalities are Garissa Town, Masalani and Dadaab.

Governor Nathif Jama said he will push for the creation of more units to devolve services further.

Jama urged the board members to serve the people of Bura and take services closer to them.

He said more municipalities will help the towns attract investors and donors.

“The way forward for our country and for the counties in particular is the municipalities. That is where action is supposed to take place. That is where a lot of funding is supposed to go to," he said.

"As key stakeholders of devolution we believe that creating municipalities is a way of devolving services to the people."

Some of the functions that will be performed by the municipality include promotion, solid waste management and provision of water and sanitation services.

According to the urban areas and cities Act of 2011, a municipality must have a population of 70,000 to 249,000.

Additionally, it should have an integrated development plan and demonstrable capacity to generate sufficient revenue to sustain its operations.

It should have sufficient space for expansion, as well as the capacity to effectively deliver essential services to its residents, among other requirements.