Tana River,KENYA:Tana river county government is calling upon the county assembly to work closely with the executive to reduce poverty levels.
Speaking during opening of the county assembly Tana River governor Dhadho Godhana confirmed to residents that county poverty levels are brought in by poor strategies by leaders.
Mr. Godhana said despite the county being rich in history, culture and abundant resources residents are still living in poverty.
According to his speech to the Assembly, Mr. Godhana added that the county is at a poverty index of 75.9%.
The county contributed to the Kenya’s National poverty by 40% in the year 2007 where Tana River was rated at 72%.
In 2013 the poverty level in the county rose to 76.9%.
Mr. Godhana affirmed that the increasingly faced poverty levels are the main cause of all evils in the society including crimes and other outbreaks of societal disorders in the county.
Consequently he urged the county assembly to focus on the county developmental agenda and to support his government to fight the poverty tragedy.
“Mr speaker, for many years our county since independence our development scorecard has been captured at its minimal or rather declining its performances almost in all sectors in our economy.
“Our county was rated at poverty index of 72% in 2007 contributing to 40% of Kenya’s national poverty. In 2013 our poverty index had increased to 76.9%. Currently, our poverty index stands at 75.9% increasing substantially our contribution to the national poverty,” said governor Godhana.
The county boss also lamented on the education sector which he said to be always deteriorating, saying 93% of county residents have no secondary education while 56% have no formal education putting the county at a competitive disadvantage with other counties in the Kenyan job market.
Mr. Godhana claimed that the delayed budget approval by the last county assembly was a blow to the county school going children saying it delayed disbursement of bursaries to respective students who were said to be out of school some few weeks ago.
