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Kilome residents secure date with NLC over alleged land injustices

Over 3,000 members of Kiima Kiu-Kalanzoni and Mukaa (KIAMUKA) Society have secured a date with the National Land Commission to present their grievances on alleged historical land injustices committed against them.

The society members, spread across Mukaa and Kiima Kiu/Kalanzoni wards in Kilome constituency, claim that a 5,048-acre piece of land leased to a British immigrant Robin Woodcraft Stanley in 1947 was forcefully taken from them, and a myriad of atrocities committed during their eviction.

The society has since petitioned NLC to look into the alleged historical injustice committed against them and their petition admitted.

Mr. Stanley popularly known by the locals as Makala has also petitioned the land commission seeking to stop any proceedings of whatever kind in relation to the piece of land.

The locals also claim that the piece of land owned by Makala is bigger than the 5,048 acres declared in the title of lease and want a survey done to ascertain the authenticity of the declared size under lease.

In a meeting attended by NLC commissioner Dr. Rose Musyoka, Governor Kivutha Kibwana, County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed, representatives of senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, members of county assembly and KIAMUKA society members on Monday, it was agreed that both the society members and Makala be heard by NLC in November to expeditiously put the matter to rest.

It was also agreed that the department of lands and urban planning in the county carry out a survey of the land next week as part of the process of the petition hearing.

Makueni youth in Rwanda for continental networking summit

20 young people from Makueni are taking part in this year’s Youth Connect Africa summit staged in Kigali, Rwanda.

The summit brings together young people from across the continent to share ideas on the possible opportunities that they can collectively exploit to empower themselves and engineer the much needed continental transformation.

According to the organizers of the event, the forum seeks to connect 100 million young Africans, empower 25 million youth with skills, create 10 million jobs for the youth and nurture a million young leaders.

The three-day forum was officially opened by Rwandese Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente on Monday 8th.

Makueni governor Prof. Kivutha Kibwana, also addressed the forum on Tuesday 9th.

He challenged policy implementers to involve the youth in policy formulation and work with them on youth empowerment initiatives instead of working for them. He also called for a paradigm shift in youth mobilization as many miss opportunities for lack of information.

“For young people to be empowered, they have to be informed. Most ordinary youths miss opportunities because policy makers only target elite youths by means of communication,” he said.

Makueni County executive for Education, Youth, Sports and ICT Dr. Naomi Makau said the 20 youths from Makueni are in Rwanda to interact globally with other youths from the continent and learn from best practices on how to empower themselves.

Naomi said plans have been made to ensure the skills acquired from the forum cascade down to all the villages across the county.

The 20 were competitively selected from the six sub counties, with each sub county represented by three youths and two from the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES).

An application to facilitate the youth networking will be launched at the end of the forum.

Mwau talks tough on cruelty against women

Makueni deputy governor Adelina Mwau has  warned gender based violence perpetrators in the county saying stern action will be taken against offenders to fight the vice.

Mwau spoke at Unoa grounds where she addressed a women conference convened to discuss gender mainstreaming, women’s financial stability and healthcare among others.

The county had partnered with Musyi FM a Nairobi based vernacular radio station   to organise the event that brought together women from different spheres of life.

The deputy governor regretted  that incidences of violence against women had become  rampant in Makueni terming such acts unfortunate and barbaric.

‘’We are witnessing a lot of defilement and rape cases across the county. This is disheartening and no woman or child deserves to be violated,” Mwau noted.

She repeatedly quoted a recent case where a 77-year-old woman was raped by her 24-year-old grandson.

Mwau thanked police for moving with speed to apprehend the suspect and expressed hope the judiciary will be swift in dealing with the matter.

She urged women not to hide incidences of defilement and incest involving their husbands adding that it was hurting the battle to win justice for the victims.She urged the security apparatus to take action against those hiding such criminals.

‘’What are you still doing with a husband who defiles your daughter and impregnates them?,’’ She posed.

She continued, “ You deserve a legal action and no mercy should be shown to you. You are badly tormenting those young girls.’’

The County Executive Committee  Member for gender Dr. Godfrey Makau noted that the community needed more sensitization on measures taken in case of rape or defilement, gender responsive budgeting tools as well as women gender agenda.

‘’Our people need more education on measures they should take incase such barbaric acts are committed against them; the county has done a lot but we still need to reach out to more people,” Dr Makau noted.

At the same time  deputy governor announced that her office is keen on promoting women’s participation in leadership, decision making, advocacy as well as implementation of strategies geared towards empowering the woman.

She also said that the county has an already existing revolving fund that has been benefiting organized groups such as women, youth, men and PWDs since 2016.

‘’This interest free loan has achieved a lot so far in empowering these groups economically and soon we will introduce a Nzangule ya Matangi loan so that the county realizes its CIDP rain water harvesting plan’’ Mwau reported.

Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo appreciated the office of the deputy governor for championing the gender affairs, adding that Mwau has been on the forefront in the fight against gender based violence.

Mwau Visits Elderly GBV Victim as Police Mounts Search for Rape Suspect

Makueni deputy governor on Tuesday visited a 77-year-old woman at the Makueni Referral Hospital who was brutally raped by her 24-year-old grandson the previous night in Mbooni Sub-County.
 
Confirming the incident, Dr. Lugogo Athman said the woman had several light tissue injuries and bruises at her neck as the perpetrator attempted to strangle her.
 
Dr Lugogo however said that they were doing everything possible to ensure that she was stable and make sure she gets proper treatment.
 
Later the victim was referred to Nairobi Women Hospital, GBV recovery wing.
 
“We have done examination on her and she has serious raptures. We are doing all that we can to ensure that she is safe,” Dr. Lugogo said.
 
The DG was shocked at the  incident and how gender based violence cases have increased in the county saying that women are not safe including the children.
 
“This means we are not safe including our children,” the DG exclaimed.
 
According to the gender based violence officer Esther Ndeto who admitted the victim to the recovery unit, the rate of GBV is very high in Makueni with up to five reported incidences recorded daily.
 
“Gender based violence is very high. We receive up to 5 cases per day and I am even convinced the number could be more due to some which go unreported,”stated Ms Ndeto.
 
The county government through the Dg’s office is in the forefront towards fighting gender based violence and soon will be officially commissioning a Makueni Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre where victims will be taken care of including psychological counselling sessions.
 
Recently the county held talks with Equality Now to discuss how we can  partner  to organise  a county marathon, an initiative to help create awareness around GBV since many people do not have any or the right information on how to deal with such cases.

Involve the citizenry in legislative processes: Mwau

Makueni deputy governor Adelina Mwau has urged both the national and county governments to involve local communities in legislative processes.

Although the governments seem to have involved the people in most of their services and activities, the deputy governor said that there remains a gap in integration of their views into laws and policies they develop.

She said: “While the national and county governments seem to have involved the local communities in most of their services, there remains a lot to be done when it comes to engaging the citizenry in the legislative processes.”

Mwau spoke on Thursday at United States International University-Africa when she addressed delegates during the Second Conference on devolution for sustainable development adding that it is only through public participation and civic education that the local communities can be factored in the legislative priorities.

The DG’s sentiments were echoed by URAIA executive director Grace Maingi who also lauded Makueni for having implemented effective public participation, a model that drew several governors for benchmarking last month.

“Public participation and civic education is the way to go to ensure ownership and sustainability of development initiatives. I wish to congratulate Makueni for being successful in this,” Ms Maingi stated.

Mwau further observed that legislature should begin the process by educating the people on their rights and roles so as to be able to provide enlightened feedback.

“It is the high time we thought of delivering to the communities the sustainable development goals as a specific civic education program in order to contribute in the path of fulfilling the Kenya Vision 2030, the DG said.

We are ready to launch Thwake – CS Chelugui

Cabinet Secretary for Water and Sanitation Simon Chelugui now says the government is ready for the ground breaking for construction of Thwake dam.

During  a consultative leaders” meeting on implementation of Thwake dam project held at Ole Sereni hotel, Nairobi, Tuesday, Chelugui said, “We have established working relations among all the stakeholders and are ready for ground breaking any time from now.”

The Cabinet Secretary said all the pending issues standing in the way of the project’s launch are being cleared to pave way for commencement of construction works.

One of the thorny challenges is compensation of a section of Project Affected Persons, which Chelugui says will be cleared in the next three weeks.

The meeting was attended by leaders from Makueni, Kitui, Machakos, representatives of those affected by the project, top leardership of the Water and Sanitation ministry as well as the contractor and and engineering consultants.

Governor Kibwana said leaders from the three counties have resolved to sensitise locals to fully accept and own the project and also to take advantage of the available job opportunities, including subcontracts.

According to the project engineer Sao Alima, Sh 11 Billion will be spend on subcontracts, which he said will benefit locals.

Makueni and Kitui will also benefit from Sh 30 million for schools improvement and Sh 50 million for community health facilities as part of the contractor’s Corporate Social Responsibility around the project area.

Mwau in talks with NGEC on collaboration

The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) today held a consultative meeting on possible areas of collaboration between Makueni County and the Commission.

The commission chairman Dr Joyce Mwikali who was accompanied by Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau said the two institutions would partner on a number of relevant areas.

The DG requested for technical support for the development of a guiding tool for SGBV and gender mainstreaming in public participation,development processes, budgeting and implementation that will eventually lead to the creation of a mainstreaming policy.

A memorandum of understanding will be developed and signed during the official commissioning of the Makueni Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre scheduled for October this year.

NGEC Commissioners Dr. Gumati, Florence, Nyokabi and the Ag. Chief Executive Officer Sora Katelo noted that Makueni is the first county to have initiated dialogue on gender and inclusion.

Executive Committee Member for Gender Culture and Social services Dr. Geoffrey Makau was also present.

Uraia to partner with Makueni for Civic Education

Uraia Trust, Kenya’s National Civic Education Programme has pledged its support for a widespread civic education in Makueni.

Uraia Trust Civic Education Manager Abubakar Said pledged the organization would stock a library of civic education materials to aid in civic education within the county.

“We are working on a mission to ensure every household has a constitution, and are versed with its provisions as a way of adding value to devolution.” he said, during a courtesy call to governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana in his office at Wote, Monday.

Kibwana urged the civic education body to push for a translation of the constitution into local dialects, urguing that the language barrier was a huge hinderance to the understanding of the constitution by a majority of Kenyans.

He said many of those who fought for the constitution had forgotten about its implementation.

“Many fought for the constitution but after its promulgation, they forgot that its implementation is a continuous process and there is need for active civic education,” said Kibwana.

“Many ordinary Kenyans are yet to fully understand the constitution because of the language it is written in. Even when we make speeches at the grassroots, we are careful not to speak a lot of English as the people will not follow, and at times they will leave mid way your speech if you bore them,” he told the Uraia trust delegation.

Kibwana said his administration has heavily invested in civic education so that the people are part of the development process, and that they do so from an informed point of view.

“We are not afraid of a citizenry that asks questions and holds us to account. It is better to allow them ask questions now and even quarrel than wait to tell you how useless you were, and how you failed to help them long after you have left power.” said the governor.

Kibwana said his ambition is to formulate a civic education program that educates residents on a holistic social economic development, including health promotion, income generation, agricultural best practices and related initiatives so that residents do not only interact with government officers during budget making only.