Busia County Commissioner Mwachaunga Chaunga has warned individuals who are vandalizing government projects saying they would be dealt with ruthlessly.
Addressing residents of Busibwabo location after visiting the area on Tuesday, Chaunga expressed his frustrations on how the pipes that were laid down for Lower Sio irrigation scheme have been vandalized by local residents.
“There is no sympathy for those who are destroying and vandalizing government properties. There is no reason why the government will lay down a project worth Sh2.5 billion and you come to destroy it. This is economic sabotage and we are going to arrest you regardless of your gender,” he said.
He accused boda boda operators from the area for working closely with those who vandalized the pipes.
“The government is spending billions but you take the pipe and sell it cheaply at night. You are destroying the future of this nation. We are going to use the order that anyone who does economic crime should be treated as a terrorist and that’s what we are going to do,’ he said.
The CC further stated that the owners of the land where pipes have been vandalized would be arrested and legal action be taken against them.
“If the pipe is vandalized and it is in your compound, we will arrest you because the government compensated you before the project was laid in your land. If that pipe is missing, you must explain to us where the pipe is. We cannot allow a project that will benefit many people to be destroyed by few people,” he said.
Chaunga at the same time emphasized that the government is committed to its mandate of safeguarding the properties of the government, its people and their lives.
He directed that all boda boda operators would work up to 9:30 pm unless there was an emergency issue.
Busia County Police Commander Ahmed Abdile said that several suspects have been arrested in connection with vandalism and that his office was awaiting statements from the National Irrigation Authority for valuation of destroyed property.
“We have 7 files ready for those people who were arrested vandalizing this project. We are waiting for a statement and valuation of the property from the National Irrigation team before we forward the statement from the complainant,” he said.
Abdile asked residents to safeguard the government projects since they were meant to benefit them instead of waiting until the police intervene.
“Let’s work together to secure what is meant to benefit us. We have few police officers and that means if we work together and decide, then we can achieve much. If we can decide as the public that we don’t want these operations, it will happen and we will be secure,” he said.
Busibwabo ward MCA Harrison Nyongesa asked the residents to protect the projects being done in the area as they would stimulate the development in the ward.
“We are working hard to ensure that there is development in our ward from electricity to water to markets. The bitter part of this is that these projects are being vandalized. We should think of our lives and that of our generation. Developing our area is a collective responsibility and we should all work together to achieve this,” he said.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
