Marsabit Central Deputy County Commissioner Patrick Muriira chairing the County Implementation Committee on the national hygiene program at the County Commissioner’s boardroom. He asked the CIC Secretariat to remove names of youths recruited into the program using their parents’ identity cards.
Photo by Sebastian Miriti.

Marsabit County Implementation Committee (CIC) Secretariat has been ordered to expunge names of youths enrolled for the national hygiene program but with no national identification cards.

Marsabit Central deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Patrick Muriira also reiterated that no service seekers ignoring Covid-19 containment measures would be attended to in government offices.

Speaking when he chaired the CIC on behalf of the County Commissioner Evans Achoki, the DCC said it was a matter of grave concern that some youths had been registered for the program using their parents’ and guardians’ IDs.

Muriira asked the Secretariat to clean the register of such names saying use of another person’s identity card for whatever purpose could amount to impersonation and forgery.

The DCC called on the Secretariat to ensure that the 3, 262 youths were engaged not only on hygiene improvement activities like refuse collection but also to undertake projects with a long lasting impact on the lives of residents such as opening up access roads.

Many youth in Marsabit do not possess national identification cards because of the rigorous vetting process that they have to undergo because of the area’s proximity to the international borders of Ethiopia and Somalia.

Emphasizing on the need for residents to follow guidelines issued by the government and the Ministry of Health in containing the fast spreading coronavirus, the DCC instructed that the measures be strictly enforced.

He cautioned that no services would be rendered where the conditions were violated and asked public servants to lead by example by regularly sanitizing their hands, washing hands with soap and wearing face masks.

Muriira warned that the pandemic was spreading to the countryside following the lifting of travel restriction out of Nairobi city, and warned that nobody would be allowed to act in a manner that could compromise the safety of others.