A Show of Love
Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau shares goodies with Makueni women remandees on Saturday 3rd january, 2018
Hon.Adelina Mwau holds two day old baby Ndanu,who was delivered in Makueni GK prison remand premises
The government of Makueni and Red Cross Society of Kenya have signed a 5-year MoU to establish a collaborative framework for Joint development implementation. Areas of cooperation according to the MoU include:
Makueni county government and Red Cross will jointly fundraise to raise resources for the successful implementation of agreed specific projects. The overarching goal is to enable the county government learn from best practices and tap the experience of Red Cross for fast development implementation.
The MoU was signed by Governor Kivutha Kibwana and KRCS Secretary General Abbas Gullet at KRCS headquarters in Nairobi.
Governor Kivutha Kibwana receives a memoir of Boniface Mwangi Unbounded from the writer during a stakeholders consultative meeting on formation of Makueni Next Generation Service, a youth empowerment programme. The service seeks to channel all youth empowerment and socio-economic transformation programs into one overarching development agenda, with several priority empowerment activities.
The engines have roared to life. The long awaited Makueni Fruit Processing Plant is now a reality. Governor Kivutha Kibwana, Makueni Farmers representatives, and residents of Makueni have today unveiled the Makueni Fruit Processing Plant at Kalamba. The Plant has a capacity to process 5 metric tons of raw mangoes producing 3,000 liters of Puree (Mango concentrate) per hour. A liter of the concentrate fetches KES 150 at the market place.
Before devolution, the idea of establishing a fruit processing plant, in Makueni to help our fruit farmers to stem wastage and raise incomes was always dear and heavily borne in our hearts and minds. However, the power and opportunity to allocate public resources of the magnitude required to realize this remained a dream. Dreams not achieved turned into nightmares during the peak seasons when mango prices dipped to three shillings per piece.
This factory will provide opportunities for local farmers and investors to own a stake and grow wealth, learn new technologies and learn about value addition to increase farm incomes. Our farmers are the primary stakeholders of the plant. The Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries is now seized with enhancement of the quality of our fruits, control of the fruit fly and farmer education to ensure the fruits processed in the plant are compliant with European Union (EU) standards.
Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau and beneficiaries of Yumbuni sand dam,Mukaa ward, pose with heads of cabbage grown using water from the sand dam. Sustainable food production from irrigation farming is at the heart of our Vision 2025.
By any description, Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau is a perfect example of the strength of a woman. Her life story is a one long and interesting narrative of intriguing experiences right from early childhood to adulthood, crowned by her entry into advocacy and politics. Born 62 years ago in the hilly terrains of Kilungu, today’s deputy governor of Makueni County has stood out as a shining beacon to the women fraternity not only in Makueni, but also in the entire country. Her parents, who were staunch Catholics, ensured she learnt responsibility early, being the first born in a family of three boys and five girls. As career teachers, and founders of several schools in Makueni and Machakos Counties, her parents ensured all their children went to school, more remarkably at a time when majority of parents were yet to see the sense of educating their children; particularly girls.Unfortunately, she would not live to experience much of her both parents’ love and guidance, following the death of her father while she was still very young.
Second in command as a Deputy Governor, her role includes deputizing the Governor in the execution of his functions as well as coordinating operational matters within the county. It is worth noting that this is the most challenging job that she has ever done in her life simply because the job is new and she is among the first crop of Deputy Governors in Kenya. They are setting especially structures, policies, and translating them into devolution laws. Besides, there are challenges with the National Government particularly with the functions and powers of devolved units, E.g. County Roads and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA) and Education. It is therefore difficult to explain what has been devolved and what has not been devolved and this sometimes brings confusion and blame by citizens. “Attending and participating in field activities at the community level and giving inspirational motivational talks to women and young people is the most enjoyable part of my job,” she says.“I really like that I am making an impact in the community where I live and the county at large”, she adds.
Leading by example-An Environmentalist and a farmer “I am passionate about farming and environmental conservation. For instance, am creating awareness and education on water harvesting to farmers through construction of farm ponds. In addition, I have planted over 500 avocados for export, 1500 passion fruits and bananas. I practice dairy and poultry farming and my three (3) Fresian cows that are being milked currently produce 74 litres of milk per day and this is likely to increase because of availability of pasture due to the rains. I am a member of several cooperative movements like Nunguni FSA, AKA Housing Cooperative and Universal Traders Sacco among others. I have also taken the initiative to create a man- made forest in pursuit of environmental conservation. I encourage you to take the initiative to plant trees especially this rainy season where there is a lot of soil erosion and destruction of property. These trees do help as wind-breakers and prevent soil erosion to a great extent.” she adds.