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Kibwana signs Cancer Care Deal with Two International Cancer Organizations

Governor Kivutha Kibwana has signed a cancer management deal with two international cancer organizations which will position the county as a centre of excellence in cancer care.

The deal, signed Thursday at Wote, brings together the International Cancer Institute (ICI) and Roche Kenya Limited (a leading pharmaceuticals and tissue-based cancer diagnostics company) to partner with Makueni on cancer and other Non-Communicable Diseases management.

The deal seeks to undertake an integrated care model in the county for; breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, lymphomas, hypertension, diabetes, and mental health at the primary health care level through the referral system to the Makueni County Referral Hospital.


The two organizations will support Makueni CRH as a treatment center for oncology services and a comprehensive screening and outreach center for the same.

International Cancer Institute Chief Executive Officer Prof. Chite Asirwa, a cancer and blood specialist who signed the partnership for ICI said the organization will provide on a rotation basis mentors: 1 oncologist, 1 gynecologic oncologist, 1-2 surgical oncologists, 1 pathologist, 1 medical officer, 2-3 clinical officers, 2-3 nurse educators, 1 community liaison, and 6 community health promoters to support the Makueni treatment centre.

He said the partnership will emphasize on accessible and affordable cancer prevention, cure and improved quality management for those living with the condition, which he says has been elusive and the reason many Kenyans fly to India and other far off destinations for treatment.

Governor Kibwana said the deal will save many residents of Makueni the agony of having to sleep on the floors of Kenyatta National Hospital as they queue for cancer treatment or selling assets to fly out of the country in search of such services.

He said the deal for set up of cancer treatment centres in counties was brokered by the County First Ladies Association (CFLA) chaired by his spouse Nazi Kivutha who was present during the signing of the partnership agreement.

Data from the department of Health Services in Makueni show the county has a high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, a growing burden of cervical, prostate and breast cancer as well as sickle cell disease and unchecked mental health issues.

The Makueni CRH registered 253 cases of the above illnesses combined between July 2015 and June 2019.

Slovakia seeks Makueni partnership in Moringa production

A Slovakia based company is seeking to work with Makueni County farmers for large scale production of Moringa for the company’s European market.

This was disclosed by the Slovak ambassador to Kenya Frantisk Dlhopolce on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy call to governor Kivutha Kibwana at Wote, Makueni.

The choice of Makueni is informed by the growing production of Moringa where quality and volume would reliably be guaranteed for the company’s huge market, said the envoy who was accompanied by the embassy’s economic diplomat Benadik Kiss.

The two diplomats spend the day touring several Moringa farms across the county and interacting with farmers and county agriculture officials to assess the production potential.

The agriculture team will carry out a baseline survey of the county’s moringa production potential and share findings with the Slovak embassy.

The team is expected back in Makueni in two weeks for a final meeting before announcing a possible working formula.

As a show of goodwill, the visiting envoy donated computers to equip an ICT and Innovation centre at the upcoming Wote Green Public Park now in its completion stages.

  • October 17, 2019 in News

Makueni on course towards food and nutrition security, says Kibwana

Makueni County on Wednesday played host to the 2019 World Food Day national celebrations usually marked annually on 16th October.

The objective of the celebration is promoting worldwide awareness and actions for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diet for all.

The event staged at Kwakathoka was graced by among others; Principal Secretary for Crop Development and Agricultural Research Hamadi Boga, governor Kivutha Kibwana, and top national officials of FAO and WFP.

Kibwana outlined notable milestones achieved by his administration in a quest to improve food security and enhanced incomes:

  1. The identification and promotion of four key agricultural value chains; fruit, dairy, indigenous chicken and green grams. The value chains have substantially been streamlined from production to value addition including processing through development of Makueni fruit processing plant which is still under development to ensure enhanced return on investment; support to development of dairy aggregation across the county and processing plants at Kikima and Kathonzweni; the on-going development of a poultry slaughter house at Kitise and a grain processing plant at Makindu. This will ensure better quality and safer foods for the consumers while increasing the incomes to farmers.
  2. Improved accessibility and affordability of agricultural inputs through linkages such as DigiFarm and KCEP-CRAL in collaboration with Safaricom and IFAD respectively, and the establishment by the county government of non-interest fund (Tetheka Fund) to enhance credit for agriculture and trade.
  3. Water harvesting programme dubbed “Kutwiikania kiw’u “and subsequent food security programme “Operation Mwolyo Out (OMO)- One acre rule”. The strategy entails construction of farm ponds at farm level for the production of quality and nutritious food for the households. The strategy promotes the establishment of dairy, poultry, nutritional garden among others within one acre of land.
  4. Enhanced agribusiness and youth involved in agriculture, a programme co-funded by world food programme and my Government.
  5. Establishment of crop and livestock pest and disease surveillance and their control programme.
  6. Promotion of climate smart agriculture in collaboration with FAO, to improve productivity and profitability and therefore enhance resilience among vulnerable communities. Some equipment used in the programme will be presented to the County in this event.
  7. Construction of fresh produce markets, stock yards, and establishment of market linkages to enhance returns to the farmers.
  8. The development of an Agricultural Training Centre (ATC-Kwakathoka). This institution hosts demonstrations in appropriate agricultural technologies as well as offering Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) services targeting our youth and other agricultural producers.
  9. The establishment of County climate change policy and board which strives to reverse environmental degradation and ensure protection of water catchments areas.

Makueni residents in Mombasa officially unveil investment cooperative

A group of Makueni residents based in Mombasa has now unveiled an investment cooperative to pool resources and create wealth both in Makueni and Mombasa.

The cooperative is the first in the county and the country at large to be domesticated under the devolved system of government.

According to its chairperson Richard Kinovi, the overall goal of the cooperative named MDIMA, is to empower its members and citizens of Makueni socially, economically and create wealth for the county.

The 261- member outfit has so far bought shares worth over Sh 5 Million in the Ene Microfinance and is partnering with the county government of Makueni and other development partners in eradicating poverty, budget making process and projects implementation.

The group is also on the verge of securing a grant of USD 200,000 from USAID Kenya and East Africa to train young people in Makueni and mentor them on life skills in a bid to increase their employability levels.

The co-operative movement in the county has grown tremendously post devolution from 83 co-operatives to 224 as at June this year.

Governor Kivutha Kibwana who graced the launch at Changamwe, Mombasa, Saturday evening lauded the members for exemplary unity of purpose, terming the cooperative a model one in the county.

He urged members of the cooperative to take advantage of the county’s Tetheka fund and any other opportunity that will help them pool resources together for group and individual growth.

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  • October 10, 2019 in News

Inside Makueni’s ambitious Plan to rid off towns of street children

On Friday October 4th, 2019, governor Kivutha Kibwana led top officers from the department of gender in his administration on a day-long benchmarking tour of the expansive Mully Children’s family at Yatta, Machakos County.

The Mully Children’s Family is an internationally acclaimed children protection centre which rescues and rehabilitates street children before reintegrating them into the society. The family currently houses 3,500 rescued children in different parts of the country.

The Kibwana-led delegation was taken through the various processes of holistic life transformation of otherwise condemned street children owing to their antisocial behaviors. Many of those who have gone through Mully Children Centre are now independent citizens contributing immensely to the country’s social and economic development.

According to Kibwana, the Yatta tour was the first step towards establishing and running a sustainable Orphaned and Vulnerable Children rescue & rehabilitation centre in Makueni with a capacity of 500 (boys and girls) by the year 2020.

As a stopgap measure before operationalization of the centre, Kibwana signed an agreement with the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mully Family Dr. Charles Mulli to undertake placement of rescued and or referred children from Makueni for protection, rehabilitation and empowerment.

The first batch of 30 street children and 40 young mothers rescued from the urban streets of Makueni is expected to report at the Yatta Centre in two weeks-time after undergoing the procedural processing for admission.

The Mully Children’s Family will also offer technical support and guidance on the establishment and management of the Children Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Makueni.

According to the Gender and Children Chief Officer Diana Muli, whereas there is no official figure on the number of street children in Makueni County, there are increasing numbers of such children spotted along the major highways and towns.


“These children appear ragged, hungry, ignored and or rejected by the society, and are at the mercies of well-wishers or at the whims of brutal abusers. To survive on the street, these children scavenge for food and metal debris to be sold for food.” She says.

The county government, Diana says, has enlisted the help of designated community members who talk to these children so they can embrace the idea.

In 2018, approximately 8301 child pregnancies were reported in the county, Diana says.

According to Diana, the department of Gender, Children and Social Services is alarmed by the mismatch of child abuse cases reported in the hospitals and those reported to the police service stations.

The hospital records show higher number of child abuse and defilement cases reported and treated but the same cases do not reflect on the police records for apprehension and prosecution.

Makueni steps up establishment of Food Safety Systems

In a bid to ensure quality agricultural products for both domestic and export markets, Makueni has shifted gears to building food safety systems.

According to governor Kivutha Kibwana, the aim of this campaign is to promote public health, and protecting the consumers against health hazards posed by unsafe agricultural products.

To achieve this feat, Makueni has partnered with Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT), and secured funding from the European Union through DANIDA to implement the campaign dubbed AgriFI Food Safety Programme.

At a meeting in Nairobi on Thursday between the Governor and officials from MESPT and the Royal Danish Embassy, it was agreed the programme will target three major value chains namely; Aquaculture, Dairy and horticulture.

MESPT acting Chief Executive Officer Charles Nyawade said the programme will involve among others:

Supporting the County Government in testing, surveillance and enforcement of Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) regulations at the county level. This includes setting up of testing labs and provision of testing and surveillance kits and equipment.

Development and dissemination of value chain-based extension curricula modules, integrating the compliance to Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulations.

Drive the consumer sensitization on food safety.

MESPT will also support development of the Agricultural Training Centre at Kwa Kathoka as one of the country’s model Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) centre.

The centre will be key in offering a holistic capacity building of all agricultural value chain actors especially farmers and extension officers.

According to Nyawade, the centre has already received two million shillings for basic infrastructural installations, while the county government has already established training infrastructure such as an aquatic hatchery, a fish farm as well as irrigation farm.

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Makueni, Tangaza University partner to steer Development

Makueni has enlisted Tangaza University College, a constituent of Catholic University of East Africa as a lead research and technical capacity building institute for its development programs and projects.

In the five-year deal signed Tuesday by Governor Kivutha Kibwana and Tangaza University College interim principal Tom Kearny, TUC will carry out research on various areas as agreed by the parties, and the research outcome will serve to facilitate informed decision making by the county government.

Essentially, the county government will identify key economic stimulus projects such as setting up of an abattoir, a leather processing project, a cotton ginnery or a honey processing factory site. Tangaza will then tour these sites and help the county in clearly defining functional business models for the sustainability of these projects.

Other areas of cooperation as per the deal include:

Building the capacity of individuals under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO);

Business and Entrepreneurship training; Civic and Development Education Training; Community capacity building for sustainable development; Servant Leadership and Transformation Managerial Training.

Governor Kibwana said the motivation behind this agreement is to improve service delivery by training people especially staff to implement development projects and programs focussing on people and to be facilitators of development as opposed to being ‘bosses’.

ICT and Development

10,000 Makueni County residents are set to be empowered with ICT skills by global technology giant, Google.

The Makueni beneficiaries are part of 10 million people Google is equipping with relevant ICT skills in Africa in the next three years.

This plan was revealed on Friday by the country director of Google during a ceremony to commission the training which Google will undertake in collaboration with Makueni County government.

“The 10, 000 people set to be equipped with various ICT skills include the 1,500 people who have already studied basic computer skills under the county government’s Tusomeei Computer Nduani programme,” deputy Govenor Adelina Mwau said while welcoming Google.

Governor Kivutha Kibwana thanked Google for choosing Makueni as the first county where the program will start.

“The online space creates tremendous job opportunities which can be tapped to address youth unemployment. We shall work with Google to make Makueni a model county on ICT enabled job opportunities”, Kibwana said.