Kwale residents identify development of rescue centers, roads and water for prioritization in budget meeting with MPs

Kwale Cultural Centre
Thursday May 15, 2025

Kwale County residents have urged the National Government to prioritize funding for rescue shelters to address the increasing cases of sexual assault and gender-based violence. 

The residents made the call during a public participation forum held at the Kwale Cultural Centre in Kwale Town. The session brought together participants from all four constituencies within the county; Matuga, Mswabweni, Kinango and Lunga Lunga Constituencies. 

The annual Public Participation exercise conducted by the Budget and Appropriations Committee covers 11 counties every fiscal year. 

In the FY 2024-25, Kwale was among the counties selected for public hearings alongside Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Makueni, Migori, Nyeri, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Wajir, Samburu and Kwale.

The objective of the exercise was to accord the public an opportunity to interact with the general outlook of the budget and help the public understand nderstand the key priorities of the government.

The exercise was also geared towards providing a general overview of projects being undertaken in each region, as well as receive submissions from the people on key areas that the government should focus on to be more responsive to their needs.

Highlighting the sharp rise in gender-based violence in the county, attributed prevalent drug abuse, many residents who made submissions, identified establishment of rescue centers as a critical priority for their community.

“Hon. Chair, we really want the government to allocate funds so we can establish rescue centres at least in every sub-county. There will help victims of sexual assault and gender based violence alternative spaces, away from their abusers”, Mwanahamisi, a resident of Matuga Constituency told the Committee.

Sharing these sentiments was a representative from the office of the County Woman Representative Hon. Fatuma Masito , who told the Committee that their office had been overwhelmed by the number of gender based violence cases. 

In a notable contribution, school going children also voiced their concerns over the matter urging the government to create a fund to cater for child protection programs.

“We urge the government to consider funding child protection programs. Many children have been victims of sexual assault and early marriages and the government needs to develop a mechanism to remedy this challenge”, a representative of the children told the lawmakers.

At the same time, the residents led by Matuga lawmaker took issue with what they termed as skewed allocation of funds to areas that have faced marginalization since independence such as Kwale.

They noted that it was time that such counties pronounced themselves on the matter, noting that the discriminative tendencies had precipitated slow development in the region.

“Hon. Chair, it is unfortunate that from my quick analysis, out of the Kshs. 700bn set aside for development, Kwale County receives less an aggregate of more than Kshs. 800m. It is unacceptable that out of a budget of Kshs. 4.2trn, we are set to receive less than 0.01 per cent. We should at least receive not less than 15bn”, Hon. Tandaza held.

Making his contribution on the matter, Kwale Deputy Governor Josephat Chirema Kombo who represented the county in the exercise also took issue with the skewed allocation, which he observed had been made worse by the recent budget cuts to the county allocations.

“I am happy that this Committee has come to pick our views on the budget for the first time. We want to state that it is time we enjoyed the kind of budgetary allocations other regions have been enjoying. We want additional allocation to roads especially given that some parts of this county do not have an inch of tarmac”, he submitted.

Other priority projects that the residents identified for prioritization include roads, water and health services. The residents also made a resolution that Kshs. 200mn which has been allocated to road design be reallocated to complete ongoing road projects in the county which have stalled.

Hon. Ali Wario (Garsen) who was leading the delegation informed the residents that the Committee had earmarked an additional allocation of Kshs. 100mn for the county, and requested their input on which project this allocation should be directed towards.

Hon. Danson Mwashako (Wundanyi) who accompanied him also assured the residents that the House was yet to make a decision on the proposed allocations, noting that the outcome of the public participation would inform the final budget. 

“I want to assure you that the proposed allocations are not final. The process of public participation is expected to inform debate on the Budget Estimates and as Members from this region, we will ensure that we get our fair share of allocation. 

Nominated MP Hon. Joseph Denar who also attended the meeting also called for fair distribution of resources, to promote equity. 

The delegation also received submissions from the County Government and the County Commissioner.