Good news for Garissa police as stalled housing project resumes

Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo speaking to the press/STEPHEN ASTARIKO

Senior government officials touring the stalled  Garissa Police Housing Project./STEPHEN ASTARIKO

The stalled Garissa police Housing project./STEPHEN ASTARIKO

The stalled construction of the Garissa Police Housing Project has officially resumed. The project will now be undertaken by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

John Karanja, the regional director of affordable housing in charge of Northeastern and Coast, said the department has moved in to complete the critical development within 12 months.

He spoke at the Garissa police line during the technical handover to the contractor.

“This project stalled for many other reasons, but more importantly is that the state department for housing has procured a contractor to finish up this project,” he said.

He said the government is “very intentional” in ensuring police houses are part of affordable housing.

“In a bid to make sure that all the sectors are included in affordable housing, his excellency the President, in his wisdom, brought in the police housing into the bracket of affordable housing,” Karanja said.

“This is to make sure that our officers live in a dignified and clean environment. The government is very deliberate to ensure that all the police houses, both new and those that for one reason or another may not have been completed, are completed,” he said.

The three blocks, two located at the police line and one at the AP line, have houses that range between one- bedroom and three-bedrooms. They have a total of 150 units.

Karanja, who spoke in the company of top government and security officials including Garissa county commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo, disclosed that the contract sum is Sh227 million.

The houses will have other social amenities, including garbage receptacles, a power house, paving and civil works, all encompassed in the project.

Mwabudzo said the government is determined to ensure the project is completed within the stipulated timeframe.

The initiative is part of the government’s broader plan to enhance living conditions for security personnel nationwide, the commissioner added. 

Police officers have in the past accused the government of doing little to improve their welfare, lamenting that their poor living conditions had contributed to their low morale.

The housing project seeks to address the long-standing challenge of inadequate accommodation for police officers that has been in existence for years.