President William Ruto where he viisted Maragua Dam last year
By Eutyhcus Ngechu a social rights activist
“Mgeni Njoo Mwenyenji Apone!”
May this adage be true for Murang’a South next week as the President tours Maragwa
Constituency.
The story of Murang’a County for aeons now has been that of plundered resources and systemic
deprivation… a cruel paradox characterised by a land that gives birth to the lifeblood of the
nation only to be left parched and thirsty.
For over 40 years, the people of Murang’a have suffered the unfair use of water, as land containing the sources that fill distant metropolises is
under their feet. The specter of exploitation has been present in both the colonial era
expropriations and more recently in the travesties of Ndakaini Dam and the Northern Water
Collector. However, tides of justice are, while slow, relentless.
The first of the cracks in that
edifice of injustice was commended by the intervention by Gatanga MP Edward Mûrîu who wrested the control of Ndakaini Dam from the foreign-dominated Nairobi Water
Company.
Finally, Murang’a’s people have a seat at the table they were ever denied at in Athi
Water Works.
History, however, is an unrepentant villain, and it almost repeats itself in Murang’a South. The
same script, different cast.
Normally, it is the Ndakaini Dam, the Northern Collector Tunnel, and
now the Maragua Bulk Water Project, all of which emanate from Murang’a South and now fall
into the hands of outsiders to the detriment of the true custodians.
How much longer will we
stand aside while our rivers are drained dry to serve as drinking glasses for another? Are we to
remain the hewers of wood and drawers of water for men that neither they nor their fathers have
labored nor till the soil?
The outcry has been deafening. Letters have been written, press statements issued, the ink has
scrawled petitions, and memorandums have pleaded that justice be done. Justice may be delayed
but justice is always denied! Therefore, audaciously auctioning of the Maragua Bulk Water
Project to Murang’a North upon its completion by trampling on the rights that which the region
is supposed to enjoy, after the completion of the said water project, is the latest insult to this long
standing injury.
Photo: side-view of Maragwa Bulk Water Project at Maragwa Constituency.
The bungling of this project was preceded by a misguided pronouncement during the
commissioning of the project.
Yet instead of having its management under Murang’a South
Water (Muswasco), which designed, supervised and has the legal
licence as the operator of the project, the management was unreasonably turned over to
Murang’a Water (Muwasco) that exclusively has operations in the
Kiharu Constituency of Murang’a North.
Why was this decision made by what twisted logic?
How can a service provider usurp jurisdiction where it has no license to do so other than by the
authority of promoting greed and avarice?
Moreover, this constitutes an affront to logic and contravenes the Water Act 2016 that flatly
stipulates that not water service provider should encroach on an unlicensed territory without due
agreement.
This injustice is an unhealed wound in the conscience of governance. This is an economic
sabotage, a social betrayal, and a mockery of the principle of equity and fair play. Beggars at his
feast, how long shall the children of Murang’a South remain? How long shall they see their
birthright auctioned away to strangers under the pretense of administrative oversight?
It is now time for rectification! His Excellency the President treads into Maragua constituency as
the people of Murang’a South look at him with expectation in the Millions. Indeed, we implore
him, with the weight of history behind us, to wield the sword of justice and right this very egregious wrong.
Restoring the Maragua Bulk Water Project to its real custodian, the visionary
architect and custodian of the Water Project that is Muswasco.
This is not a bureaucratic correction, this is a moral imperative. It is a call to fairness and
conscience, and a testing of leadership.
Our time is up. Those who have the blueprint of the
valley and its vision and rightful claim on it should govern the valley. Murang’a south should be
allowed to reclaim what is justly their own.
If justice means anything at all, let it flow like the very waters that Murang’a south so
generously provides. The time for justice is not tomorrow, it is today!
Let Children to the Motherly, that they prosper!
Cart to good drivers, that they be driven well!
The valley to the waterers, that it yield fruits!
