Year: 2018
Makueni county choir shines at peers’ major music jamboree
The Makueni county choir was crowned overall winners in the 92nd edition of the Kenya Music and Cultural Festival held in Meru after making its first appearance at the national level.
The county choir, which had registered in two categories for presentation took the lead with the song “Ain’t That Good News,” of class 435 Negro Spiritual category, beating other several county choirs competing in the class.
According to the gender, children, culture and social services executive member Dr Godfrey Makau who had accompanied the team during the festivals, it was a big surprise for the choir to emerge winners owing to the fact that it had just made its first entry for the competitions.
“Amazingly, the choir appeared for the first time at the national level during the 2018 Music and cultural festival and emerged overall winners. It was a big surprise to all of us!” Dr Makau exclaimed.
However, the win didn’t come easy, according to Pius Mutinda who is the vice- secretary, Eastern Regional Music Festival and one of the choir trainers, adding that the members sacrificed their time to perfect the items for the competition.
He said: “The group, as young as it is, was able to register a superb performance. However, they sacrificed their time to polish and compete favorably, which they did.”
The 92nd edition of the national festival, which ran from November 23 to 29, attracted over 30,000 participants from across the country.
The group, established in July this year has 42 members comprising of county staff and members of the public drawn from various wards across the county.
The county director alcoholic drinks control, Joseph Katumo who is also the second trainer said that the team was formed to among others nurture talents in arts, sensitize the public about the government programs, create awareness on social issues within and without the county and promote national and county cohesion through diverse cultural practices, sentiments which were echoed by Dr Makau.
The choir has since received several invitations to perform in various events, and was applauded by the Country First Lady Margaret Kenyatta for its awesome presentation when she graced the official commissioning of the county Mother and Child Hospital in Wote.
The county government is set to officially commission the choir during the county prayer and thanksgiving ceremony to be held on 31st this month, an event which will be graced by governor Kivutha Kibwana.
Kibwana hosts Polish Envoy for Bilateral Trade Engagement
Governor Kivutha Kibwana on Monday hosted at Wote the Polish ambassador to Kenya Jacek Bazanski for a bilateral trade engagement with special focus on cooperative movement development.
The ambassador said his major reason for the Makueni visit was to establish a platform for Polish companies to interact with their Kenyan /Makueni counterparts for shared economic partnerships.
He said Makueni has entrenched a transparent leadership which is attracting investors, and Poland would seek to work with the county for the benefit of both the county government and his country.
Bazanski was accompanied by the Nairobi Bureau Chief of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency Michael Mazurewicz.
The two, accompanied by governor Kibwana and department of trade officials held talks with representatives of cooperators across Makueni.
Kibwana welcomed any partnership with Poland investors that would help grow the County cooperative movement to become a key socio-economic driver to the county and Country at large.
“We are desirous of establishing mutually beneficial relations with your country in the areas of agro-processing, water harvesting/conservation and road infrastructure development so that we can easily embrace technology from your country,” Kibwana told the envoy.
Kibwana said since the inception of his government, the cooperative movement has grown from 83 cooperatives to 207, with a total membership of 50,866, share capital of Kenya shillings 264,002,126, turnover of Kenya shillings 72,862,269 and members’ savings of Kenya shillings 202,389,214.
The Polish envoy agreed to co-facilitate a trip to Poland for the Makueni cooperators’ representatives to learn from best practices on cooperative movement participation in the country’s development.
Poland has one of the most developed cooperative movement which has catapulted it to the 6th biggest economy in Europe.