Tharaka Nithi Leaders Call For Unity To Unlock Development

By Alex Njeru

Lead­ers from Thara­ka Nithi Coun­ty, led by Deputy Gov­er­nor Nya­ga Muis­rael and Admin­is­tra­tion Exec­u­tive Muthi­ni Karan­gi, have urged coun­ty res­i­dents and polit­i­cal lead­ers to unite in sup­port of both the nation­al and coun­ty gov­ern­ments to max­i­mize devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Speak­ing dur­ing the dis­tri­b­u­tion of free cer­ti­fied seeds in Maara con­stituen­cy, the lead­ers empha­sized that with­out uni­ty, the coun­ty risks miss­ing out on cru­cial devel­op­ment projects.

While express­ing con­fi­dence in the nation­al gov­ern­ment, where their own Prof. Kithure Kindi­ki serves as Deputy Pres­i­dent, they stressed the need for har­mo­ny among coun­ty lead­ers.

They also acknowl­edged the recent polit­i­cal truce between Pres­i­dent William Ruto and oppo­si­tion leader Raila Odin­ga, hop­ing that it would not affect Prof. Kindiki’s influ­ence in gov­ern­ment.

“We need to remain unit­ed so that we can ben­e­fit from both the nation­al and coun­ty gov­ern­ments,” said Muis­rael.

Mr. Karan­gi echoed this sen­ti­ment, say­ing the col­lab­o­ra­tion between Ruto and Odin­ga should serve as an exam­ple for all politi­cians to embrace uni­ty, adding that polit­i­cal dif­fer­ences should end after elec­tions.

Agri­cul­ture Exec­u­tive Njue Nja­gi high­light­ed the county’s con­tin­ued efforts to enhance food secu­ri­ty through the issuance of free cer­ti­fied seeds.

For the past 10 plant­i­ng sea­sons, Gov­er­nor Mutho­mi Njuki’s admin­is­tra­tion has dis­trib­uted seeds for maize, beans, and green grams, sig­nif­i­cant­ly improv­ing har­vests across the coun­ty.

“Since the start of this ini­tia­tive, we have wit­nessed great improve­ments in food secu­ri­ty,” Mr. Nja­gi said.

The seeds were issued in Kian­ju­ki in Mwim­bi ward, Kiru­mi in Gan­ga ward, Karaa mar­ket in Chogo­ria ward, Karig­i­ni mar­ket in Mutham­bi ward and Ndumbi­ni in Mitheru ward.

Dr. Mute­gi Kabisani, the governor’s eco­nom­ic advi­sor, praised Nju­ki for sus­tain­ing the pro­gram, not­ing that while many coun­ties attempt­ed sim­i­lar ini­tia­tives and failed, Thara­ka Nithi has con­sis­tent­ly suc­ceed­ed.

He added that even with unpre­dictable rain­fall pat­terns, the use of cer­ti­fied seeds has led to improved har­vests.

Mr. Muis­rael fur­ther laud­ed Gov­er­nor Nju­ki for sub­si­diz­ing Arti­fi­cial Insem­i­na­tion (AI) ser­vices, reduc­ing the cost from KSh1,200 to KSh400, a move that has boost­ed dairy farm­ing.

He also called on the youth to engage in pro­duc­tive agri­cul­tur­al activ­i­ties instead of indulging in illic­it brews.

The coun­ty gov­ern­ment, he said, would inten­si­fy the fight against ille­gal alco­hol and take action against bars oper­at­ing out­side the per­mit­ted hours.

He urged res­i­dents to reject politi­cians who entice them with illic­it liquor and instead sup­port respon­si­ble drink­ing.

With lead­ers ral­ly­ing for uni­ty and increased agri­cul­tur­al sup­port, Thara­ka Nithi res­i­dents have been encour­aged to take advan­tage of gov­ern­ment ini­tia­tives to improve their liveli­hoods.