Tana River plans Sh250m assembly chambers to ease congestion

The Tana River County Assembly is set to construct modern chambers at a cost of Sh250 million.

Speaking to journalists at his office in Hola, Speaker Justin Nkaduda said they had already acquired a piece of land for the building.

CONGESTION

Mr Nkaduda said the assembly leadership was concerned about congestion and other challenges in the current facility.

He added that the decision to construct another building came after they benchmarked in several counties on the type of structure to put up.

They will adopt the standards of the Kilifi assembly, he said on Tuesday.

"We have decided to have new chambers to curb congestion and a create more room for other activities in the assembly."

JOURNALISTS

The speaker said the new chambers will have a gallery for the public and sections for special guests and journalists.

"Members of the press will have a section where they will easily record and decode matters pertaining to the assembly without disturbance, for purposes of transparency," he said.

Mr Nkaduda added that they were in the process of having three media outlets cover assembly proceedings, two being local radio stations and one an outsourced station.

He asked media houses to confirm who their local correspondents are for the sake of accreditation.

The assembly wants at least three from the Coast region, he said.

"Our priority is to encourage transparency and full coverage of assembly proceedings. We wish to prepare accreditation cards for members of the press to allow them exclusive entry," the speaker said.

Mr Nkaduda apologised to journalists for the recent case in which they were barred from the gallery to cover a motion on the budget. 

While noting that the assembly has no intention to gag the media, he directed them to the office of the clerk and the speaker in case of misunderstandings.