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Makueni Governor Fetes Music Festival Winners

Makueni Governor H.E Mutula Kilonzo Junior has hailed Makueni students who participated in this year’s National Music Festivals as true ambassadors of our culture, tourism and the ‘Brand Kenya’. The Governor was speaking at an event held at the PWD Centre grounds in Wote, where the students presented the winning choral verses and songs to fellow students and teachers. This was the first time winning teams have been hosted by the County Government in Makueni.
The schools received trophies from the County Government in recognition of their performance at the music festivals that were held in Kisumu recently.
He reiterated the need to nurture the nascent talents and converting them into employable skills after school. The Governor also feted students who represented Kenya in the East African athletics games in triple jump and track events.
The schools that presented their pieces were Mbooni Boys, Makueni Boys, Makueni Girls, Mukaa Girls, Mwaani Girls, AIC Mutongu Primary, Kītī Kyumu Primary and AIC Kathonzweni Primary School. The County Director of Education, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association and Primary schools associations were all represented.
 

GOVERNOR MEETS ROAD CONTRACTORS

H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior and the Deputy Governor H.E Lucy Mulili today received an update from contractors building roads in parts of Makueni County. The contractors working on the Kikima, Kali, Utangwa, Kyambalasi road, Tawa, Itangini and Emali Nduundune and other roads presented their challenges to the Governor. The main issue is delayed payments from the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA), a National Government agency that oversees development of rural roads in Kenya. The lack of funds has caused delays in completion of the roads.
The contractors emphasized that delayed payments, some of which are two years old have negatively affected them and slowed progress. They expressed commitment to complete the roads if payments are made in good time. The contractors cited the high cost of credit and negative rating from financial institutions due to late loan repayments on credit facilities advanced to the contractors.
H.E the Governor promised that his office would assist in presenting their challenges to the national government to enable them continue to work. The Governor said that as the Chairman of the Council of Governors committee on Legal Affairs and Intergovernmental relations, he would seek a collaborative engagement with the National government to unlock the stalemate. The contractors promised to mobilize their teams to fix problem areas ahead of works to make the roads motorable in the time being.
The County Commissioner Ms Beverly Opwora said that some of the roads lead to security installations and required urgent intervention. The County Commissioner asked traders who have encroached on road reserves to give way for the road contractors.
The contractors prepared the outstanding schedule of payments to seek intervention in settling of their bills. The meeting was attended by Amip Patel from Kabuito Contractors, Geoffery Ndambuki and Ngare Mahinda of Coastal Enterprises, Wan Wengbin of Shengli Engineering, Terene Enterprises, the KERRA Regional Director Eng. Anastasia Ndunda and KERRA Resident Engineers for Emali and Kikima – Kali roads.
 

Governor Mutula flags off Shs 90M Medical Supplies

Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior and KEMSA Chief Executive Officer Terry Ramadhani on Monday flagged off Shs 90M worth of medical supplies for all 238 health facilities in Makueni.
The event took place at the Mother and Child Hospital, Wote, and was also graced by Senator Daniel Maanzo and Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili.
The supply is the Financial Year 2022/2023 quarter one order of health commodities and constitutes of essential and specialist drugs, non-pharmaceuticals and laboratory commodities.
Governor Mutula Jnr said the huge investment in healthcare is geared towards attaining the highest possible health standards in a manner responsive to the Makueni population needs.
The governor said his administration is committed to increasing efficiency in the management of the health commodity supply chain to ensure sustainability and resilience.
“To this end, we intend to enhance health commodity stock visibility through automating inventory management to achieve end-to-end visibility. This shall enable faster turnaround time for quantification, ordering and distribution of health products and technologies to ensure continuous availability,” he said.
To enhance efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare provision, the governor last month commissioned a unique model of operation dubbed Reverse Referral, which entails medical specialists going to the field to offer specialist services in remote facilities.
This, he said, will reduce the pressure at the county refferal hospital and the expenses incurred by residents travelling all the way to Wote.
 

RESOLUTION OF THE INTRODUCTORY MEETING WITH DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS ON 23rd SEPTEMBER 2022 AT PANARI HOTEL, NAIROBI

During the introductory meeting between the Government of Makueni County and Development Partners working in the county, the following resolutions were agreed upon;

 

1. The county government will establish a County Development Partners Caucus to facilitate periodic engagement between the county government and the development partners.

 

2. The county government will work to strengthen the Sector Working Groups and establish Development Partners Sector Working Groups and ensure development partners working in the respective sectors engage periodically

 

3. That the there is need to enhance the capacity of the County Assembly on the policy making process and setting legislative agenda since the development outcomes will be impacted by the policy and legislative agenda in place.

 

4. The county government will work with the development partners to develop joint project proposals for fundraising.

 

5. The county government and the development partners will work together in the preparation of the third generation of the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP 2023 -27) and integrate the development partner’s priorities in the county development agenda.

 

6. The county government will establish cost-sharing and sustainability mechanisms to ensure initiatives by development partners are sustainable after phasing off.

 

7. The county government commits to support and reengineer the cooperative movement as a vehicle for socio-economic transformation through forward and backward linkages in various sectors.

 

8. The county government will work with the development partners to strengthen devolution to ensure further decentralization of services to the lowest level and deepening community public participation model.

Governor Mutula Orders Specialist Medics to Leave Offices for the Field

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has ordered more than 58 medical heads out of their comfortable offices in Wote to offer services to wananchi in local health facilities.
 
Through a programme dubbed Makueni Public Health Week, the medical officers will be required to routinely choose one or more health facilities in the county and camp there for a whole week offering specialized healthcare services.
 
Directors and Medical Superintendents in the Health Services department will lead the campaign and monitor how health services and medicines are dispensed at the facilities.
 
Governor Mutula Jnr said the decision was borne from the realization that the county has a huge number of talented medical specialists whose services are not available to the residents.
 
He said it was pitiful that such specialists operate only from the county headquarters and in offices while residents are forced to seek services elsewhere at exorbitant costs. 
 
The Public Health Week begins on Wednesday 14th September 2022 in Mbooni sub-county.

Makueni, NACADA Agree to a Joint Offensive Against Drug Abuse

National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse(NACADA) has pledged support to Makueni County in dealing with alcoholism and drug abuse which is highly prevalent in the county.
 
During a courtesy call to Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili in her office, Wote, on Monday, NACADA Chief Executive Officer Victor Okioma said the authority will support Makueni in policy and legal frameworks, training of recovery coaches to mentor victims as well as capacity building for the personnel involved in the campaign.
 
Mulili said the County Government is working to establish a recovery centre where victims will be treated and fully rehabilitated.

Makueni County links tech systems with KEMSA to ensure health supplies efficiency.

Makueni County Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has kicked off efforts to streamline the procurement of health commodities to boost healthcare delivery in the county.
 
The streamlining efforts will involve integrating and enhancing information technology (IT) based systems to power the procurement and distribution of health commodities. 
 
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call to Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) Chief Executive Officer Ms. Terry Ramadhani, Kilonzo Jnr said the county has undertaken to seal all loopholes facilitating loss of health commodities.
 
Based on an immediate needs assessment, the county, he said, has placed a Kshs 30 million order for essential medical supplies with KEMSA. The order comprises Oncology, Renal, surgical and related items, including Laboratory, Radiology, Dental and Linen items.
 
While imploring KEMSA leadership to provide the necessary support, the county, he added, will maintain a prudent just-in-time procurement plan for health supplies to avoid overstocking and stockout scenarios.
 
“In Makueni County, we have committed to providing the best healthcare possible. This cannot be possible if we continue to lose medicines ordered from KEMSA or cannot account for the supplies delivered,” he said. He added, “We have immediate plans to fully integrate our technology systems to provide end-to-end visibility and enhance our procurement planning and budget cycles.”
 
On her part, KEMSA CEO Ms Ramadhani welcomed Makueni County’s commitment to adopt technology systems and confirmed that the Authority is now banking on IT systems in its operations. The county, she said, will be seamlessly linked to the KEMSA Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) and the KEMSA Electronic Proof of Deliveries (e-POD App).
 
She said that by integrating systems, KEMSA and Makueni County would enjoy end-to-end visibility of the pharmaceutical inventories across the health commodities value chain.
 
“The focus by Makueni County to ensure a system-wide assurance of all deliveries from KEMSA is a welcome development. Such systems alignments will allow KEMSA and Makueni county to enjoy mutual integrity assurances and curb losses or financial inefficiencies including overstocking or delayed procurement,” she said. Adding that, “These systems will facilitate better operating information visibility across the supply chain system and contribute to inventory accuracy at the operating levels.” 
 
In the current order placed by Makueni, 240 rural health facilities, and 13 hospitals spread across the county’s six sub-Counties, will receive their supplies next week to boost primary and secondary healthcare goals.

In PICTURES: A 3D architectural impression of the proposed Mukuyuni modern mixed use market set to accommodate over 150 traders in the town.

The proposed market, to be implemented by Wote Municipality, will be funded by the World Bank through the Kenya Urban Support Programme. 
 
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior and Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili on Friday received the proposed market design for review during a series of other development meetings at the Council of Governors offices in Nairobi.
 
 
The market design has provision for two floors, a cold room, an hybrid solar system, stalls and shops, a drive-through for road users as well as solid waste management. It will also have solar lighting and a 30,000-liters rain water harvesting tank.
 

Wote Municipality Eyes Massive Investments From SUED Partnership

Wote Municipality is poised for major investment attractions thanks to a partnership with United Kingdom’s sponsored Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED).

The Municipality is among 12 others in the country selected through competitive bidding to take part in the 6-year initiative.

The programme entails supporting the 12 municipalities to develop bankable urban investments, improving urban economic planning and business environment reforms through public-private partnerships.

On Friday, Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior, Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili, Wote Municipality Board members held a sequel briefing meeting with SUED implementation team and representatives of the British High Commission at the Council of Governors offices, Nairobi, to finalize the development plan for Wote Municipality.

Agro-processing, trade and investments, fruit processing, waste management among others are some of the partnership areas of interest identified.

On 7th September 2022, Governor Kilonzo Jnr signed the transfer of several functions and attendant resources from county departments to the municipality giving it the required impetus for enhanced growth.

‘Ni Wakati wa Kazi’, Governor, Deputy Governor tell Administrators

Governor H.E Mutula Kilonzo Jr has warned the County Administration against continued politicking, calling them to go back to work to deliver quality services to Wananchi.

 

Speaking during a familiarization meeting with sub-county, ward and sub-ward administrators in Wote on Tuesday, Kilonzo Jr said he was not interested in knowing who supported or opposed his gubernatorial bid but rather focused on delivering his vision to the people of Makueni.

 

Further, the governor committed to re-engineer public service in Makueni to make it more efficient and effective by cutting down unnecessary bureaucracy which has slowed down the delivery of government services.

 

Deputy Governor H.E Lucy Mulili who also addressed the administrators challenged them to work with all elected leaders and the National Government Administration Officers to create synergy in service delivery.

Mulili reiterated on the need to build a cohesive administration that integrates all positive thoughts into deliverables. She said her wish is to oversee a government that implements projects to full completion so that residents can realise value for their money.

  • September 6, 2022 in News