Marginalised areas in Homa Bay to receive Sh5 million Equalisation Fund yearly

Homa Bay County, Sunday May 21 2023,

K.N.A By Sitna Omar

Ten sub-locations in Homa Bay identified as marginalised are among others in the country that are set to benefit yearly from 0.5 per cent of the revenue collected nationally as Equalisation Fund for development in a bid to bring regions that are marginalised at par with the others nationally.

The ten which were identified by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) through the 2019 population and housing census courtesy of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, include Gwassi North (Malongo and Kitawa), Upper and Lower Kwamo, Kitiro in Ndhiwa sub-county and Kwandiko in Central Kanyamwa among others.

These regions are considered marginalised in five key parameters in terms of accessibility to water, public schools both secondary and primary, electricity, modern roads and public health.

The Director ICT at the CRA Joseph Kuria said lack of critical infrastructure is the reason for these regions to lag behind in terms of development as well as poverty levels.

The commission has completed its second marginalisation policy which drew its data from the 2009 population census and now it is in the process of developing the third.

“We have visited two sub-locations, Kitiro in East Kwabwai and Malongo in Gwassi North to verify the data we have for us to come up with the third policy on marginalisation,” Mr Kuria said.

The team looked at the issue of accessibility to water, electricity, the roads, health services and basic education to the people within the sub-location.

Malongo sub-location lacks connectivity in terms of electricity and has one dispensary whose proximity to the furthest homestead within the sub-location is about three to five kilometres.

It is marginalised in such a way that accessing services like water, health and education requires long hours of walking given that there are no roads nor transport system and accessing the services of boda boda operators is also a challenge.

Mr Kuria noted that the equalisation fund will be directed towards improving these infrastructure to better the lives of the people.

“We are setting aside additional funds so that these areas are not marginalised. The fund should work in synergy with the county assembly and is meant to provide an intervention in those five key areas,” he said.

The equalisation fund is established under article 204(1) of the constitution to facilitate the provision of basic services such as water, roads, electricity and health to marginalised areas and the commission is mandated to formulate policies for identifying these areas.

It is also mandated to regularly review marginalised areas for purposes of the Equalisation Fund which will be used to improve on the priority sectors in these regions.

The director said there is a need for active involvement of both the county and national governments to ensure marginalised areas enjoy similar services as other areas in the country.

“We have talked about the issues that pain the community and what their priorities will be. They have prioritised water, followed by road, electricity, health and lastly education,” he stated.

The director advised that the equalisation fund is little and therefore the community needs to form a project committee that will identify the most critical infrastructure to improve on before moving to another.

Courtesy K.N.A