By Quinter Atieno 
The County Government of Siaya, through the Department of Public Works, Roads, Energy and Transport, held a preparatory meeting ahead of the upcoming Gender Mainstreaming Workshop scheduled for 29th and 30th of this month.
The forthcoming workshop aims to support this process through stakeholder engagement and household data collection conducted by trained enumerators.
While addressing the meeting, the Chief Officer for Energy and Transport, Dr. Nicholas Kut Ochogo, emphasized the importance of horizontal coordination among county departments and stakeholders. He also called for the involvement of key partners such as Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), the County Attorney, the County Business Manager, and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), among others.
Dr. Ochogo commended the technical team for their training and acknowledged the street lighting project, which is yet to be implemented by the national government. He further recommended the training of boda boda riders across all sub-counties on first aid measures in case of accidents, citing Ugunja Municipality as one of the beneficiaries of the initiative.
The Director of Transport, Mr. George Obare, called for an audit of both motorized and non-motorized vehicles across all sub-counties. He also recommended the disposal of unusable vehicles in accordance with the Procurement and Disposal Act.
In partnership with Practical Action, the department is developing the Siaya County Energy Plan, Energy Policy, and Energy Investment Prospectus.
Today's meeting was attended by the Director of Roads, Mr. Samuel Ogeda, the Engineer in Charge of Renewable Energy, Mr. Felix Omondi, Mr. Victor Okada, technical staff, and other county officials.