Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Tuesday led Makueni residents in celebrating International Day of Forests by spearheading restoration of Mbitini location tree cover. The area has for years witnessed formation of life-threatening gullies and flash floods following wanton destruction of tree cover.
County Executive Committee Member for Lands, Urban Planning, Environment and Climate Change Dr. Sonia Nzilani has said the county will plant and grow at least 1.2M trees by the year 2026 in partnership with Mastercard Foundation to restore environmentally degraded lands in Makueni.
As part of a long-term strategy towards environmental conservation, the department is training and establishing environmental clubs in at least 18 schools to promote environmental education and greening programs.
The event was staged at Masokani County Technical Training Institute in Mbitini ward, Makueni Sub-county.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr on Tuesday officially launched the Ajiry programme and Ajiry center at the Wote Green Park.
The Makueni Ajiry center will offer a wide range of services to the youth including; Digital skills training, mentorship, free access to music and podcast recording studios, and cyber security training and certification.
According to the ICT, Education, and Internship ECM, Elizabeth Muli, this initiative will enable the youth to participate fully in the digital economy and expose them to job opportunities and online markets.
She noted that the digital space will also offer the youth a music studio where they could participate in recording their talents in music, podcasts, and deejaying.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said that the impact of the center will not only be felt in the community but also beyond, adding that his administration has created a model that can be replicated in other parts of the country in empowering the youth to become change-makers in their own right.
He further said that the institution was a game changer in the quest for youth and women empowerment, digital skills, and the digital economy.
The programme is delivered in partnership with the Makueni county government, Tribus-TSG, a subsidiary of Centum Investment Company, and the Mastercard foundation.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr, Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili, accompanied by County Commissioner, several MCAs commissions Winzeni micro-Irrigation project at the River bed of River Athi in Kitise/Kithuki ward.
The project once complete will irrigate 30 acres of land. This is one among 11 micro Irrigation projects scattered in dry wards of mavindini, kitise/Kithuki, Kikumbulyu South, kikumbulyu North, mbitini and kalawa.
The Governor also led a food distribution drive to several families from the area.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr , Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili, along with heads of various departments commissions the disilting and expansion of Kwamboo Earth Dam in Muusini, Mavindini, Makueni sub county.
The 18-acre embankment, once complete, will yield 35,000 m3 of water.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, Health ECM Dr. Paul Musila, and Stephen Ndolo (Chief officer, health) today held collaboration talks with both Jacaranda health and Thinkwell at the governor’s boardroom.
The two partners are collaborating with Makueni county to implement quality ecosystems that aim at improving maternal and newborn healthcare solutions by linking them with available budget and data capabilities.
According to Joseph Mutweleli, Head of partnerships at Jacaranda health, this approach will leverage public partnerships and women’s voices to help the Makueni county government drive cost efficiencies in health funds as well as prioritizing investments in innovations and improvements in quality-of-care services.
Mutweleli, noted that the ultimate goal would be to increase available funds for maternal and newborn health solutions by 50% as well as reduce facility-based neonatal mortality and drivers of maternal death rate by 20%
The head of programs at Jacaranda health, Javan Waita, reported that the institution has been in Makueni since 2019. According to him, they have been able to enroll 95,040 pregnant and new mothers and reached 4,663 male partners across 80 health facilities where they empowered them with information to improve health-care seeking services through their PROMPT program.
The institution through a partnership with the health department has also been able to mentor over 250 nurses from 53 health facilities within the county who have successfully delivered over 1700 babies born every month.
Waita added that Jacaranda implemented a blood tracker innovation in 9 healthcare facilities, enabling them to identify the availability of blood.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr endorsed the program but urged them to hold counseling sessions for teen mothers who would most likely not say much as several of them might have gotten the babies as a result of defilement.
He stressed the need for pediatric wings in public hospitals within the county, indicating the importance of maternal healthcare.
Makueni on Thursday opened doors to one of its kind, a community-led development school and the first in Africa at Wote.
The school seeks to train citizens, community leaders, civil society professionals, and government officials from across the county and the country at large to ensure that every person has a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
It will also provide a platform to strengthen the capacity of county officials and community members on how they can be involved to localize sustainable development blueprints by the county.
While presiding over the inaugural function, Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr described the school as timely, adding that the center will offer collaborative learning that will be demonstrating the power of government-civil society partners.
In his keynote address, John Coonrod, vice president of the Global Hunger project and the founder of Movement for Community-Led Development (MCLD) lauded the county community-led development aspect, saying that it’s the only way to structure society consistently with human dignity as it moves decision-making closer to the people.
Governor Kilonzo re-signed a M.O.U with John Coonrod where its collaboration includes fundraising for county development initiatives, capacity strengthening of county departments on proposal writing, and fundraising among other key areas.
Health facilities in Makueni will soon be able to receive essential and emergency medical supplies through aerospace, thanks to a partnership between the county government of Makueni and NARMA INCL. a Korean aerospace research institute that develops state of art delivery drones and services.
Deputy governor H.E Lucy Mulili, ECM Paul Musila (Health), Chief Officers; Stephen Ndolo (Health) and Japheth Kiminza (Environment, natural resources, mining and climate change) hosted officials from the company on Wednesday where they talked on a myriad areas of collaboration.
Eng. Suho Jung, the projects manager noted that the partnership seeks to improve on the timelines of delivering medical supplies especially those listed as emergency drugs such as anti – venom vaccines, anti – rabbis, blood among others via drone services.
The officials from NARMA INCL. are in Makueni for a recceing visit and to acquint themselves with the county’s topography before flying drones in the county.
Dr.Stan Kivai,chair Makueni Climate Change Fund Board said that they engaged the Korea International Corporation Agency (KOICA) through their resource mobilization aspect to bring the services to Makueni adding that the drones would considerably reduce the energy consumption.
Dr.Kivai was accompanied by Angeline Katunga, a member of the Climate Change Fund Board.
Ten villages in Muvau-Kikumini ward are set to benefit with sustainable water supply for both domestic use and micro-irrigation from the newly rehabilitated Ndukuma earth dam. The ten villages are Ndukuma, Kaseve, Nthembe, Mandoi Miteveni, Wendo, Munyuni, Nzaai, Kiatine and Mumbuni .
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Tuesday officially flagged off rehabilitation works for restoration of the dam to its original capacity after years of silting.
The department of Water and Sanitation began the works on 21st November 2022 using own machinery and has hired more from the National Youth Service (NYS) to speed up completion before onset of the March-May rains. The dam is expected to be complete by 24th March 2023 and will have cost Kshs 50 Million.
When complete, the dam reservoir will have a holding capacity of 365,000 cubic meters of water (365,000,000 litres) up from the current 162,000 cubic meters capacity after many years of silt accumulation.
Makueni county delegation led by CECMs Elizabeth Muli (ICT, Education and Internship) and Dr. Paul Musila(Health Services) met with Nairobi county Health, Wellness and Nutrition Sector team led by the CECM, Dr Anastasia Nyalita to showcase the experience Makueni county has had with Maisha Med Technology in management of health commodities supplied by KEMSA.
The system used in Makueni facilitates better transparency and accountability across the supply chain system and contribute to inventory accuracy up to the health facilities.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr officially opened the Makueni County Budget and Economic Forum (CBEF) induction workshop for the newly appointed CBEF Members organized by the Department of Finance and Socio-Economic planning in collaboration with the Commission on Revenue Allocation(CRA).
The training was meant to equip the new members of their role in county planning and development as they start the five-year journey as the People’s think tanks during the budgeting process.
The 2-day induction workshop came to an end leaving the 3rd Makueni County Budget and Economic Forum with a rich understanding on various areas of performance. As part of the conclusion and way forward, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) agreed to sign an MoU with the County Government of Makueni. Further, there is need for the Forum members to develop their work plan, code of conduct, terms of reference (ToR) and also form sub-committees for more effective and efficient service delivery. The forum members have a role of mobilizing the people they represent and also furnish them with information and feedback always.
