VP irked by threats against Chinese

Monday, 08 August 2011 00:03 BY MUSEMBI NZENGU

ON BODA BODA: Kalonzo test drives a motor bike. Photo/Musembi Nzengu

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday expressed displeasure at people threatening workers of a Chinese company awarded contract to tarmac a local road. Kalonzo said it is wrong for the locals to issue threats and block the firm tarmacking the Mwingi-Kandwia-Tseikuru road from getting sand from a local seasonal river.
The VP instead urged the locals to cooperate with the contractor. “Whatever the Chinese are doing is to our benefit. If we force them to abandon the project, then we stand to lose. We must learn to be friendly to investors doing projects that are beneficial to us,” said the VP who is also the MP for Mwingi North. He was speaking outside his Mwingi North Constituency office on Saturday while flagging off additional eight motor bikes out of the 23 he had bought for the youth cooperative societies in his constituency.

Kalonzo advised local small-scale entrepreneurs including the Boda Boda operators to form savings and cooperative societies to enable them access funds set aside by the government or other financial institutions. At the same time, Kalonzo announced that a Motor Cycle assembling plant by the Chinese Skygo model will be set up in Mwingi town soon.
He said this has been necessitated by the rising demand for cheap motor bikes. “I have successfully lobbied an investor to set up the motor bike assembling line in Mwingi town so that our people can access both jobs as well as cheap motor bikes to help ease transport problems,” said the VP. Kalonzo who introduced the investor, Stephen Ngei Musyoka of the Makindu Motor Limited to the crowd added that the setting up of a motor bike assembling plant was a move towards industrializing Mwingi town.