Tozeur: six candidacies for council of regions and districts filedGov’t Commences The Grading Of Maralal Baragoi Road To Reduce Insecurity

General

Tozeur: The independent regional authority for elections (IRIE) in Tozeur received on March 21-22 six candidacies for the election of members of the national council for regions and districts.

Information officer with IRIE Alia Belgacem told TAP all members of the Regional Council of Tozeur will participate in the elections of the second parliamentary chamber

.

March 23 is the deadline for the submission of candidacies, she further said.

The council of the fourth district, made up of the governorates of Tozeur (still unrepresented), Gafsa, Sidi Bouzid and Sfax, was installed on March 20.

Voting to elect the representative of the governorate of Tozeur in the council of the fourth district will take place following the election of the national council of regions and districts on March 28.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The government has commissioned the grading of the 100 kilometer Maralal-Baragoi road to uplift the standards of road in an effort to reduce rampant cases of banditry and highway robberies.

Speaking in Morijo area after commissioning the road rehabilitation project, Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen said that once the road was renovated, it would enable herders to access markets for their livestock and also aid quick security response when cattle rustlers and bandits strike.

Murkomen noted that a number of people have lost their lives after being shot by bandits who take advantage of the dilapidated road infrastructure to launch attacks, the most recent being Ang’ata Nanyukie MCA Stephen Leshimpero who was shot and killed by bandits while driving to home in February.

‘The efforts we are making to upgrade infrastructure is going to aid the efforts of the Ministry of Interior and National Administration in the fight against cattle rustlers and bandits in Samburu County. The works will later
be extended to South Horr and ultimately to North Horr on the Kenya Ethiopia border,’ he said.

The CS further noted that for many years, the A4 road category has been receiving inadequate money for maintenance saying that his Ministry has pumped Sh50 million through the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) for rehabilitation.

Murkomen also revealed that efforts to secure funding for the tarmacking of the 400 kilometer Maralal-Baragoi-Sarima to Ilerate along the Kenya Ethiopia border were at an advanced stage.

Samburu County Governor Lati Lelelit welcomed the road renovation project saying it was a form of improving security along the treacherous route at the same time urging the CS to budget for security roads.

The governor said that the tarmacking of the road would be a permanent solution to the perpetual insecurity incidents that hindered development in Samburu North Sub County.

‘Criminals like operating in inaccessible areas and I believe good roads provide a lasting solution to insecurity more t
han security operations,’ the governor noted.

Source: Kenya News Agency