UK based donor agency the Bedfordshire has come out to explain why the firefighter engine donated to Kisumu County was branded Meru, causing a social media frenzy.
Fredrick Kiogora Atandi, the man behind the Kenya Fire Engine Service confirmed it was true that the Kisumu engines had been branded Meru.
“Meru is the central logistics point of our distribution of fire engines and the branding happens in the United Kingdom through one company,” said Atandi.
According to Atandi who works with the former Hertfordshire Fire Service manager Raymond Willets in sourcing the machines from donors in the United Kingdom explained that Meru County was their logistics centre for the project and the distribution centre once they arrived in the country.
Read: Governor Nyong’o Under Pressure For Launching ‘Meru Firefighter Engine’
“We therefore indicate on the paperwork for shipment that the machines are headed for Meru though once they are in Kenya each county is in charge of payment of duty and customs for their respective vehicle which is in the region of Ksh1 million,” Atandi told the Standard.
Meru Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu refuted social media reports that Meru fire engines had been sent to Kisumu for a dummy ceremony saying they were firm under the county government on protecting public interest.
“We in Meru are not open to such kind of games. We are led by a responsible governor in charge of a responsible team,” said Ntuchiu, as quoted by a local daily.
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