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Mukuyuni set for big plans

Traders from Mukuyuni market in Kaiti constituency have started vacating from a section of the busy market, along Wote-Machakos road to pave way for the construction of a modern market.
The project, funded by the World Bank through the Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP) is being implemented by the Wote municipality.
Once completed, the market will benefit more than 150 traders who have been operating in bad conditions.
The traders applauded the county government for initiating the project which will facelift the market and generally improve the hygiene of the market.

Makueni County Shines in the KMCF

Makueni County has made impressive performance at the Kenya Music and Cultural Festival (KMCF) held in Kitui County from 1st to 7th December 2022.
The County government presented five teams at the festival: Makueni County Choir; Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Makueni Campus; St. Jude Catholic Church Choir, Kwa Kotoe; Kee Botanical Garden and Akim Nginda Kithanse, the Crown Prince of the Angulya people.
The Makueni County Choir emerged position one in the following classes: Class 434 Own choice of a sacred accredited piece – ‘ Lift up your heads o-ye gates’; Class 435 Mixed voices adaptation and arrangement of African melodies – ‘ Ndivukye Mutivuko’; and Class 436 African American Spirituals – ‘Ain’t That Good News’. The choir garnered position two in Class 432B Mixed voices set piece for County choirs.
Making their debut in the festival, the KMTC Makueni Campus emerged position one in Class 913Z Dramatized contemporary dance, position two in Class 707Z Akamba Folksong and position three in Class 701Z Luhya Folksong.
St. Jude Catholic Church Choir, Kwa Kotoe emerged position five in Class 511 Mixed voices set piece for church choirs.
Kee Botanical Garden garnered position one in Class 1402 for its well curated exhibition of live traditional medicinal plants and products.
Akim Nginda Kithanse, the Crown Prince of the Angulya people, emerged position one in Class 1305C Folklore (storytelling of traditional stories) in English or Kiswahili and Class 1303D Dramatized monologue. He also garnered position three in Class 1007 Public speaking on climate change, position five in Class 1008 Spoken Word and position eight in Class 1305B Narrative (storytelling in contemporary style) in vernacular.
Out of its excellent performance, the Makueni County Choir has been selected to perform in the gala-the winners concert.
With 14 entries in the festival, Makueni County has won over four trophies, seven certificates for entries that emerged position one, two certificates for entries that emerged position two and two certificates for entries that emerged position three.
A delegation led by the CEC for Trade, Marketing, Industry, Culture and Tourism, Peter Mumo Nyamai, met with the Executive Committee of the KMCF and expressed the interest of Makueni County in hosting the festival in 2023.
Hon. Elizabeth Mutindi Kiio, the Chairperson of the Makueni County Assembly Committee in charge of Culture, has accompanied and cheered the county teams throughout the festival.

Building Development Partnerships

On Monday, Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili hosted a high powered delegation from Micro-Enterprise Support Programme (MESPT) led by Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Amukhoye who paid the DG a courtesy call in Wote.
Discussions centered on enhancing partnerships between Makueni and MESPT in several Agricultural value chains and enhancing food safety competitiveness of the county.
Some of the key partnership areas include:
Support to agriculture policy development; support to establish a veterinary and food safety mini laboratory; Development of the Agricultural Training Centre-Kwakathoka as an Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) Facility.
MESPT supports Green Employment in Agriculture and AgriFI Food Safety programmes in Makueni.

Let’s green our schools, DG urges

Deputy governor H.E Lucy Mulili on Saturday joined the “Kilome We Want” (KWW), a Community Based Organization at Sultan Hamud primary school in Kilome for the group’s AGM and thereafter, a greening exercise.
The tree planting initiative is premised on the realization that many schools have vast compounds but seriously depleted of tree cover.
The Deputy Governor led the group in planting trees as a way of encouraging schools in Makueni to take advantage of the ongoing short rains.
Mulili being an active and duly registered member with the grouping together with the leadership of their group has championed tree planting in more than 30 area schools by building sustainable relationships with local schools and creating forums for sharing, learning and discussing issues of environmental protection.

Meeting with Rural Electrification Corporation to light Makueni

On Friday Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr held a meeting with the CEO of the Rural Electrification & Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), Peter Mbugua and his team members in charge of design, Installation, business development and renewable energy at the KAWI headquarters.
Since last year, REREC is undertaking 13 projects under matching grants program which are expected to be completed by January next year.
There is also additional funding that has been directed to 57 projects since 2019 targeting public facilities which will also be completed in 2023. The National Government has also funded 81 projects in Makueni County to the tune of Sh. 250 million. Some of them are nearing completion and will be commissioned by the CEO and H.E the Governor soon after completion.
During the meeting, it was agreed that there is need for better collaboration and communication about suitability of projects, design, location, implementation and involvement of residents in providing labour.
The meeting was also attended by the officer in charge of Eastern region who has been leading electrification work in Makueni. There will be further engagement on the creation of a renewable energy centre in Makueni.

Counties partner with Nutrition International

Makueni is among 11 counties that on Friday held a high-level cross-county learning forum on domestic resource mobilization for nutrition and health at Safaripark.
The event was convened and moderated by Nutrition International.
Among other resolutions, the Governors and Deputy governors present jointly committed to a declaration towards ending malnutrition in their respective counties.
Below are the resolutions arrived at during the convergence;
I. Elevation of nutrition as a top priority in counties.
II. Integrating malnutrition in county budgets, policies and legislative actions.
III. Working with executives and county assemblies to increase the resource mobilization base.
IV. Improving governance and prudent management of nutrition interventions, including, supporting policy and regulations that ring-fence resources for nutrition
V. Strengthening partnership with Nutrition International and fulfilling our commitment to the performance-based match-funding (DRM) program.
VI. Strengthening coordination between external partners working with county governments to ensure the effective use of the resources.
VII. Closely collaborating with the National Government to facilitate the uptake of policies, legislation and plans to support the achievement of national, regional and international commitments and obligations.

Deputy Governor commissions new health facility wing

The opening of a 22- bed capacity twin ward at Kyambeke Health Center in Ilima ward, by Deputy Governor H.E Lucy Mulili on Thursday will provide much-needed medical services to an estimated over 5,000 residents.
The building which has been realized through a donation from the “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” to the county government will cut the distance of seeking medication elsewhere from the far-flung hilly Ilima villages.
“This facility will put to an end the long hours of traveling to other health facilities in the neighboring sub-counties,” Mulili stated
Flanked by the area MCA Hon. Jonathan Muthoka, nominated MCA Hon. Sarah Mbilo and Ag. Chief Officer of Health Services Dr. Stephen Ndolo, Mulili reiterated the government’s commitment to delivering accessible and affordable Healthcare services to all the people.
She noted that the county has partnered with KEMSA so as to ensure a steady supply of Medicine to all the county health facilities.
The church funded two wards (female and male) and supplied equipment including patient beds, an oxygen concentrator, an autoclave, medical refrigerators, wheelchairs, and furniture among others.

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr: We will ensure enough budget for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the next 2023/2024 Financial Year

Makueni Governor H.E Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Thursday joined various stakeholders, public and community partners involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in marking this year’s World Aids Day at Wote, Makueni Sub-County.
With the theme, “Equalize”, the Governor underscored the need for increased knowledge of HIV and access to treatment with a call to ending stigma so as to allow people access services without fear.
“We have attained impressive results so far, 70% of Makuenians living with HIV are aware of their HIV status. Of those who know their status, 94% are on HIV treatment and 92% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression. We can end stigma and allow those scared of accessing services to do so without fear of discrimination,” the Governor said.
The Governor called on the Department of Health to ensure funds are allocated in the next financial year for HIV/AIDS related services.

1,000 Makueni farmers benefit from coffee seedlings

Over 1,000 farmers from Mbooni Sub-County have benefitted from coffee seedlings in a move to boost coffee farming in the area.
The county gave the Batian composite variety, the best coffee variety which is a mixture of different pure lines for that region.
The seedlings, a donation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was flagged off by Agriculture Executive Joyce Mutua on Thursday at Nzaini Coffee factory.
She was accompanied by Executives Dr. Sonia Nzilani (Lands and Environment), Nicholas Masila Nzioka (Gender) and Mbooni MCA Hon. Alexander Mulemba, who took part in the distribution exercise across various coffee factories in the locality.
“This Batian we are giving to farmers is an improved variety and is tolerant to Coffee Berry Disease, leaf rust and has high production,” said Mutua
Hon. Mulemba called on the farmers to take advantage of the public participation forums during the budget making processes so as to allocate enough funds for coffee production.
They also took part in planting coffee seedlings within the compounds of some of the 7 coffee factories in Mbooni.
 

CIHEB allocates Sh. 108M to Makueni for HIV, TB prevention and treatment

The Center for International Health Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB) has allocated Sh. 108M to Makueni county health services docket for HIV prevention and treatment services, the organization’s CEO Dr. Emily Koech has announced.

The institution is implementing a 5-year workplan for disease control and prevention funded program dubbed ‘The partnership for advanced care and treatment’ in the Lower Eastern region.

Dr. Koech led his CIHEB team on Monday to pay a courtesy call to governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr and his deputy Lucy Mulili with their discussions centered on comprehensive HIV and TB treatment.

Since last year, the organization funded Makueni through the county health management team to a tune of Sh. 112M to provide services and activities highlighted below.

● Provision of HIV prevention interventions for general and key populations including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis(PrEP) services and gender-basedHIV-exposed violence

●Provision of High-quality targeted HIV testing services (HTS) leading to the identification and linkage of HIV-infected individuals.

● Provision of HIV prevention and treatment services for pregnant and breast-feeding women and HIV-exposedlast infants.

● Provision of quality patient-centered HIV care and treatment services for PLHIV, including management of commodities.

● Strengthening of health systems to support the delivery of HIV and TB related services including laboratory systems, commodity management and monitoring and evaluation systems.gender-based