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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.
 

Bat-and-ball game hits Makueni!

Makueni has started discussions with Cricket Kenya aiming at opening opportunities to the youth towards earning them livelihood through sports.
The fruits will soon be felt following the launch of the game on Wednesday at Enzai playground, Mukaa, Kilome.
The launch was overseen by Makueni’s sports Director Ambrose Kisoi who doubles as the Secretary General- Kenya Youth Inter-County Sports Association (KYISA) and Member- Youth Commission (National Olympic Committee of Kenya).
Atleast 35 trainee coaches have been introduced to this game and will be awarded a world class recognized basic coaching certificate; according to Kisoi.
During the same occasion, 25 pupils were excited to have a first hand experience in Bowling with hope of becoming experienced bowlers and all-rounders at long-run.
“We were privileged to host 6 top class Cricket Kenya professionals including David Obuya, former Kenyan cricketer and the national team coach among others,” Kisoi said
Makueni will be embarking on a programme to ensure that the game is introduced in the remaining 5 sub-counties by June, 2023.

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

Marking 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

On Tuesday, Gender, Children, Youth, Sports and Social Services Executive Nicholas Nzioka held a meeting with Harriette Chiggai, President advisor on women rights with their discussions centered on standing up against Gender-Based Violence in the County.

Chiggai was elated by structures put in place such safe house, operational Policare among others.

Ndukuma Dam – Keeping the promise to the people

Excavation works for desilting of Ndukuma Dam in Muvau Ward, Makueni Constituency, has started.

The works include clearing vegetation, 5-meter deep excavation of the dam basin to remove silt accumulated over decades and raising the embankment by 0.5metres to increase the capacity of the dam.

Once the 58-acre dam is refurbished, it will serve more than 19 villages in the area. The work is being carried out by Makueni County Engineers led by CEC for Water Eng. Kasyoki Kieti and our county machine operators and technicians.

The county has committed a total of Kshs 50 million for this first phase.

Makueni targets to plant 200,000 seedlings and scatter 1 Million seed balls for wild tending

Makueni targets to plant 200,000 seedlings and scatter 1 Million seed balls for wild tending; Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr has said.
On Saturday, the governor flagged by environment champions from Mbooni planted over 20,000 seedlings.
Environment and Gender Executives Dr. Sonia Nzilani and Nicholas Masila respectively led another group in Kibwezi- East in tree planting to combat the climate crisis and restore biodiversity.

Governor Mutula Jnr. meets CoG

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr digs into co-operation between Counties and the national Government for better service delivery
Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr who is also the Council of Governors (COG) Legal, Constitutional Affairs, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee chair on Friday chaired his first meeting at the COG Delta House offices in Nairobi.
The meeting discussions were centered on issues affecting County Governments, establishing frameworks that allow for consultations and also co-operation between counties and the national government.
After deliberations, the committee unanimously agreed on the following resolutions:
1. The committee to fast track the Intergovernmental Relations (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021-a Bill for AN ACT of Parliament to amend the Intergovernmental Relations Act to streamline the procedure for the transfer and delegation of powers, functions, and competencies between the two levels of government and for connected purposes.
2. They will hold a consultative meeting with critical offices in January 2023, such as the ODPP to deliberate on the prosecution of cases emanating from County laws, the office of the Chief Justice to discuss on utilization of fines and fees emanating from County Laws, pay a courtesy call to the Speakers and leaders of the majority of both houses and with the Attorney General aiming at strengthening Intergovernmental relations between parliament and the County Governments as well as fast-track the enactment of the IGR (Amendment) Bill
The to-be January meeting also targets the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) to create a synergy between the 47 county assemblies and Executives.
3. The COG to support County Governments on the institutionalization of the office of the County Attorney.
The meeting was also attended by various County attorneys.

Launch of County Statistical Abstract 2022 and Inaugural Ward Statistical Profiles

Makueni County will from now henceforth use the ward as its basic development planning and implementation unit, governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has said.
Speaking during the launch of County Statistical Abstract 2022 and inaugural Ward Statistical Profiles in Wote, Thursday, governor Mutula said this move will accelerate development at the local level and contribute to county sustainable development and transformation.
In previous years, the county allocated Sh 33 Million annually to each ward for ward specific development as suggested by the people through public participation, but this has not achieved socio-economic parity according to governor Mutula Jnr.
To achieve this parity, the governor said his administration will formulate a resource allocation criterion similar to that used by the Commission on Revenue Allocation to promote equity and address the unique needs of each ward.
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MAKUENI TOPS NATIONALLY IN FIRE AND RESCUE OPERATIONS

Makueni county fire and rescue brigade has been feted top nationally beating other Counties, parastatals among other entities.

The team under the Directorate of Special Programmes and Emergency services braised stiff competition from 22 counties and big organizations such as Kenya Airports Authority, and G4S, among others to emerge top while Isiolo ranked second and Kenya Airport Authority third respectively.

The concluded Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) competition was held at Kenya airport Authority Training School, Nairobi.

The county also produced the best Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Erick Muli, a paramedic based in Matiliku Sub County Hospital.

Muli beat 10 other EMT paramedics for institutions such as Red Cross, Avenue Health rescue, Komarock modern hospital, Mary hill, and Bristol Park among others.

The symposium themed, “Towards growing effective and efficient emergency rescue and response teams 2022” covered fire service leadership, community fire safety, tactical firefighting, emergency medical service, and fire engine operation where the Makueni team thrived in showcasing their prowess.

The symposium attracted over 300 fire emergency and rescue practitioners, the Kenya Council of Emergency Medical Technicians, the Chief fire mission, and other partners.

The competition was organized in partnership between the Africa Fire Mission, Polish Center for International Aid, Kenya Medical Care Technician (KMCT), and Kenya National Fire Brigade Association (KENFIBA).

According to the County Chief Fire Officer Urbanus Kioko Kyalo, Makueni has had intensive training by the Polish Center for International Aid on fire emergency rescue through an MOU signed between the organization and Makueni in 2020.

 

 

Through the MOU, the Polish Center for International Aid has donated state-of-the-art firefighting equipment, a road traffic accident vehicle as well as the establishment of a fire fighting station at Makindu along Mombasa Nairobi highway.

 

Mr. Kyalo noted that the Makueni fire and rescue brigade was awarded a trophy, a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitating Monitor to aid in emergency medical services, two complete sets of trauma bags, and cash prizes.

“In the past 4 years we have been able to respond and attend to 198 fire incidents and also road traffic accidents mostly along the Mombasa Nairobi highway involving vehicles ferrying petroleum products,” said Mr. Kyalo.

The team has also rescued a number of newborn babies thrown into deep pit latrines.

The team had time with the Governor during a firefighting drill within the County headquarters with the Governor maintaining that the team needed more resources to enable them to respond to various disasters. 

“This is a commendable job done by our team, we must enhance our disaster response preparedness to avoid loss of lives and property,” he said.