Mfangano residents question disappearance of Ksh.300M allocated for ferry services

The public ferry services were meant to reduce the high cost of transport within the Island to boost the stagnating economy of the area.

In 2022, the residents through Mfangano Development Forum MDF petitioned the Senate to provide a government-owned ferry to help them in transport services between Mfangano Island, Takawiri, Remba to mainland in Mbita.

Currently, there are private firms operating ferry services within the Island, which the residents say are expensive.

Speaking when the Senate Committee on Transport Roads, and Housing visited the Island to follow up on their petition, MDF chairperson Daniel Rakoro said that years later, they have not been briefed on the way forward based on their request.

Rakoro says that Ksh.300 million had already been allocated in the budget for Mfangano Island public ferry, but they have not seen the ferry.

The committee chairperson, Eddy Oketch, told residents that Ksh.300 million had been allocated in the previous financial year for the construction of a ferry at the Kisumu Shipyard.

Oketch said that the committee is going to investigate where the money was diverted to, saying the ferry service between Mbita and Mfangano Island is long overdue.