Ndakaini Dam is a national asset

Here is my take on the populist crusade by Muranga governor Mwangi wa Iria to impose a 25 per cent levy on water from Ndakaini Dam, Nairobi’s main source of water.

We need to come up with ways of disabusing county governments and their leaders of the notion and mindset that makes them believe that they have special and superior rights and entitlement to national assets.

We should not allow county governments and governors to behave as if they have rights to levy charges and fees on national assets located within their territories as they choose.

The ordinary man and woman from Muranga should not be deceived into believing that they deserve special rights over either Ndakaini Dam or the Northern Collector Tunnel project?

Populist crusades like the one going on in Muranga- and especially those that are based on emotive and parochial claims and where communities and tribes are mobilised to fight for perceived rights tend not only to gain support but also spread like wild fire.

Mr was Iria and other Muranga leaders behind the crusade must be stopped. They must be reminded that Ndakaini Dam is a national asset financed and built by the taxpayer.

Murang’a County should be proud that they are hosting this key national asset on behalf of the rest of Kenyans.

Indeed, the big risk in the crusade by Muranga leaders is that it is the kind of campaign that can easily be picked up and copied by populists from other parts of the country.

For example, what if a county like Mombasa demanded to introduce levies on Mombasa Port? Do we really want to encourage the County of Mombasa- and all the people living in the counties where the goods and freight from the port must travel through before they reach Nairobi to Kampala and Kigali to also start imposing levies?

The County of Mombasa cannot claim special rights over the port because we have all agreed as a country that it is a national asset.

And, we recognise that as a facility, Mombasa port cannot exist as a commercially viable entity in isolation and without the rest of the country.

The only reason the port exists and survives as a commercial viable entity is the demand for cargo services from regions outside the County- Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali.

Similarly, Ndakaini Dam only became viable because financing costs are being paid for by water consumers.

If we are not careful and if we capitulate to the demands of the Murang’a leaders, the country risks being overwhelmed by similar demand from other counties.

What these leaders are seeking is a recipe for total confusion.

If the government were to be forced to allow Lamu County to impose levies on the Lamu Port and on all the projects being built there under Lapsset, the proposed national infrastructure projects may not see the light of day.

Today, most of the oil discoveries we have made are in Turkana County.

But we all know that after that oil has been sucked out of the wells, it has to be transported by pipeline to refineries and by ships to markets where it eventually sold.

If we allow wa Iria and company their way, what should we do just in case leaders from the counties that neighbour Turkana-namely- Trans Nzoia and Baringo - start mobilising communities to demand to be paid millions of shillings before they can allow the oil pipeline from Turkana to pass through their counties.

The central government must move in strongly to assert its authority and protect national infrastructure projects from machinations of this new breed of populists and rent-seeking elites from Murang’a County.