Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti has expressed his commitment to ensuring that all the pledges he made in his campaign manifesto were actualised over the next five years.

Awiti said he was closely working with the national government to ensure the county’s roads infrastructure is overhauled during his term in office.

He highlighted roads like Pala-Riat and Koguta-Nyabera in Ndhiwa constituency, Mbita- Sori road in Suba South constituency, Kendu Bay-Oyugis roads in Karachuonyo constituency as projects which have already kicked off.

Speaking during a press briefing this morning, the Governor said his administration in collaboration with the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) had signed a Sh 1 billion deal to set up an industrial park in Riwa, Karachuonyo constituency to spur economic growth.

He said his administration had embarked on a staff audit to weed out ghost workers and reduce the bloated workforce to bring down the wage bill and free funds for development.

Awiti lamented that his government had high recurrent expenditure due to bloated number of employees.

“We cannot be deterred from realising development agenda we have for residents of this county just because people want to earn salaries and wages,” Awiti said.

 The Governor revealed that the County Public Service Board has also embarked on the staff rationalisation to enhance efficiency by ensuring optimum staffing levels for all departments.

He warned that they will lay-off staff members who under perform. “I tell you that we’re not stopping with ghost workers and casual workers. After the auditing we want to ensure even the lazy staff members are laid off,” he said.

Awiti said his government absorbed a good number of staff from the defunct local authorities.

“Homa Bay residents want their lives improved and I do not want to be blamed that I did not finish my development projects during my tenure,” Awiti said.

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He named Fredrick Ochieng Odera as the new County Executive Committee member for Energy and Natural Resources.

He said his administration is ready to work closely with the national government for faster development.

“We will be collaborating with the national government where necessary as the constitution stipulates,” Awiti said.

He was accompanied by his deputy Hamilton Orata and Finance Executive Nicholas K’Oriko.