MCAs must be serious

Members of the county assemblies around the country are definitely doing a good job, judging from the amount of work done in the transition from the old local authorities.

The counties have become the focal point around which the envisaged national development now revolves. They are the cogs in the grassroots initiatives from which national prosperity should spring.

The job is not easy, as often happens when one has to start something from scratch. The new system is more expansive than the old councils, which had much less in terms of resources at their disposal.

Unfortunately, however, the image of the MCAs has been savaged in the eyes of the public because of some trivial pursuits and self-interest.

The MCAs are now synonymous with wanton wastage of public resources, and the people are not amused that their elected leaders are more obsessed with overseas travel and other freebies at the expense of their duties.

And the suggestion by an MCA that their wives should now be paid allowances because they get bored or are lonely when the men are away on duty, will further erode their reputation.