Lake Region Economic Bloc Governors Vow to Embrace PPP

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Lake Region Economic Bloc water stakeholders have been challenged to embrace Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to compliment government efforts in addressing water woes enveloping the region.

According to Kericho Governor Eric Mutahi, there is urgent need to protect water sources in an effort to address the software part of water sector.

Speaking during Partnership For Water Security in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, a forum that was attended by Siaya water stakeholders led by Water Executive Prof Jacqueline Oduol, Governor Mutahi said they are now turning to Public-Private Partnerships.

“This model allows us to involve private sector players, international partners, NGOs, and donors in developing crucial water infrastructure,” said Mutahi

“I want to ask Governors from Lake Region Economic Bloc to continue working with our partners. We need to explore the model of public private partnership in an attempt to see if we can press the charge in the water sector,” said Mutahi.

The strategy can work for all of us because many a times most government run projects are moribund.

A nation is classified as water-scarce if it falls below the threshold of 1,000 cubic meters of renewable freshwater per capita annually. He added that, despite the sensitivity of PPPs in the country, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation remains optimistic about their potential to alleviate the water crisis.

Kenya’s participation in the voluntary Threshold Challenge, which emerged from the 2023 United Nations Water Week in New York, further highlights the country’s commitment to improving water resources. “Each participating country, including ours, must set its own targets for wetland and river recovery,” said Mutahi.

He added that the initiative, aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on clean water and sanitation, aims to recover 800,000 hectares of wetlands and restore 352,000 kilometers of rivers globally.

“We must demonstrate that we have recovered specific wetlands or restored particular stretches of rivers, with clear data on the area and volume restored,” he added.

He also called for a review of water policies so that governors to have a say on the bodies that run the water management in Counties.

“We also have serious challenge with bodies that run or manage water in the Counties,” said Mutahi adding that nearly all water bodies at the LREB have serious challengeson water management some are almost declined isoltacy, so we need to look into policies and laws so that we have a say in these institutions inorder to have seemless relation for we believed that if we are not part of them will walk into more problem ” said. Mutahi.

Water experts wants actors downstream and upstream compensated for them to change their livelihoods that interfears with quality of water.

“We need to offer Incentives to communities, farmers and land owners in an exchange of managing their lands and resources to provide valuable ecosystem such as water provision, erosion control and carbon sequestration among many others.

Siaya Director Water Henry Juma, Siaya Bondo Water and Sanitation Campany Managing Director Isaiah Adipo and chairman of Siaya Assembly water Committee Justus Oguta were part of the meeting that was also attended by Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathews Owili, and LREB CEO Victor Nyagaya.

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