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A delegation from Taita Taveta county government on Tuesday started a two-day tour of Makueni County to study the climate change policy and the implementation of sand conservation and utilization.

The Taita Taveta Deputy Governor Majala Mlaghui who is the leader of the delegation said her team was visiting to study the milestones achieved by Makueni County in climate change, sand conservation and utilization policy enactment and implementation.

She is accompanied by various government officials and MCAs who are members of the departmental committee on water.

She said that Taita Taveta has since banned commercial sand harvesting and wishes to borrow from Makueni experience to implement the ban. Makueni banned sand harvesting in 2013.

Makueni deputy governor Adelina Mwau who received the team noted that there was need for the creation of an economic bloc that constitutes Taita Taveta, Makueni, Machakos, Kajiado and Kitui counties who would stand up and fight illegal sand harvesting jointly.

“Illegal sand harvesting has been a nightmare to us and that is the reason governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana and I decided to ban the activity in 2013.Although we have had challenges our strategy of coming up with sand regulations has curbed the menace,” Mwau said

Prof Kibwana who also met members of the delegation noted that the illegal business had attracted social problems in the community like drug abuse, prostitution among others before he decided to ban sand scooping.

The governor said that the move was driven by the motivation to protect the sources of water as many of the rivers had been depleted.

‘’We were pushed by the urge to save our rivers, the youth who were practicing the illegal sand business and more so moving towards sustainable sand harvesting, “said Prof Kibwana.

He said that counties must aspire to work together with the county assemblies for development progress.

Over 100 youth on Friday graduated from a youth empowerment training program dubbed “Man Enough” courtesy of partnership between the county government of Makueni and Transform Nations.

The initiative sought to equip the young men with life skills and prepare them as leaders in the family, the church and the community for national transformation through personal change.

Makueni governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana who officiated in the graduation ceremony at ATC, Kwa Kathoka challenged the youth to implement the skills they had acquired during the three weeks training saying that transformation of a nation starts with change of an individual.

“I urge you to implement what you have gained from this training and let the change be real. A community transforms itself when all its people are transformed,” Prof Kibwana said.

He further urged the youth to be agents of change in the society saying that they are the mustard seeds of transformation in the county and the nation at large.

Pastor Simon Mbevi, the founder of Transform Nations lauded the county for rolling out such a life transforming initiative saying that it was the first county to implement such a program.

“I would like to appreciate Makueni for being the first county to roll out this kind of a program and also thank the governor for the passion that he has for the young people of this county,” Pastor Mbevi stated.

Currently the county government, as a way of empowering the youth, is facilitating a youth driven initiative dubbed M-YES, a program that provides a platform for them to solve issues affecting their lives.

Other county officials who graced the ceremony included the acting executive committee member for Youth, Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services Dr Naomi Makau and the department’s chief officer Jonah Kyathe.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s battle against corruption is lonely and requires good company to sustain if the war against the vice was to be won.

Makueni County Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana on Monday urged the church to join the President in his war against graft, warning their silence and lack of support is making it a lone range mission against a combative network of corrupt individuals and groups that fight back together.

Prof Kibwana who was addressing Anglican Bishops at the Wholesome Governance Conference held at the St. Paul’s University, Limuru said the battle the President was wading into was isolating and therefore the support and backing of the church and other like- minded persons was crucial.

“I am sure the President is very lonely because corruption fights back. He needs company,” Prof Kibwana told the bishops attending the workshop.

The governor said it was difficult to develop if all the money collected as revenue is stolen by heartless cartels.

“The clergy should approach the President and lend support on war on corruption. The church can help devise ways of fighting it. The President wants to fight it but the war is huge,” Prof Kibwana said.

Negative ethnicity and the youth marginalisation, Prof Kibwana noted are among key issues the church should look into in order to help spur development in the country.

“People should know that we are all children of God. It doesn’t matter whether one is Kikuyu, Kamba, Luo or Kalenjin. This negative ethnicity is dividing our country. The church should come in and save us,” the governor added.

He however hailed the church for playing a crucial role in mediating when Makueni county executive went into a quarrel with the county assembly in 2013.

The ACK Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit praised Prof Kibwana for being an achiever in the implementation of devolution and for ensuring good manners in management of resources in his county.

“Many people have praised the manner in which you stood against blackmail in your county and defended devolution in the last term and the kind of development you are bringing,” The ACK leader said.

The Archbishop said that the church should play a more visible oversight role in order to tame wanton corruption and plunder of public resources.

“It is important that devolution is safeguarded and cascaded further to the village if not the household level without wastage of scarce resources,” the Bishop stated.

County governments have been urged to promote volunteerism in order to engage a huge chunk of jobless young people who could gain experience by offering services probono.

Makueni Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana said that time has come to introduce the culture of volunteerism in Kenya as away of tapping the human resource that may be required by governments to deliver certain crucial services but which due to lack of resources cannot be fully engaged.

He said though the Kenyan society has been practising volunteerism the idea is yet to be fully entrenched in the society for the benefit of both the people and the governments.

“Even in the 60s people volunteered to fight for independence.In the 80s and 90s in this country Professionals volunteered time to help us develop our 2010 constitution,”Prof Kibwana said when he made his opening remarks during the African Probono Volunteerism Conference at the Boma hotel on Wednesday.

The governor said that his government has embraced volunteerism by initiating an annual recruitment drive for graduate interns who are allowed to work for the county for at least six months.

“When we came to government in 2013 we decided that volunteerism is important.We initiated an internship, mentor ship and volunteerism programmers,bringing on board graduates who are not salaried to work in various departments,”he said.

The governor said that his government is also dependent on local professionals who always come in to give support and offer solutions to problems affecting the county.

Prof Kibwana who was the chief guest at the event said governments have a heavy burden of having to deliver services to the people but sometimes lack the capacity to do so.

“I think and everyone knows that governments cannot provide and supply all that we need.That is why volunteerism is important.We should encourage our people to embrace the idea of probono movement,”Prof Kibwana stated.

Standard Group Chief Executive Officer Orlando Lyomu who also attended the event said the media has a major role to play in supporting the breeding of volunteerism.

“We need to ensure the role of the media is not just about recording but encourage development of volunteers and their breeding,”Mr Lyomu said.

Japanese International Corporation Agency  (Jica) Senior Representative Katsuya Kuge said Japan supported the voluntary initiatives in Kenya through Jica dispatch program.

The National Government will work with the County to expedite the issuance of title deeds in order to address land ownership problems in Makueni County.

Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana and Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS)  for Lands Gideon Mung’aro said the two levels of government have resolved to work together to deal with the problems affecting thousands of residents in Makueni who own land but have struggled for years to access documentation.

“We have people here who own huge chunks of land. They have owned such land for years but have never acquired land titles,” Prof Kibwana said.

The governor and the CAS were speaking at the ATC Kwa Kathoka in Makueni where they joined hundreds of delegates in the county’s first Annual Land Conference.

He said the county recently launched a programme to support the issuance of 53,000 titles to locals as part of his government’s strategy to iron out the outstanding land problems in the county.

Prof Kibwana said: “The trouble here is that majority of people facing problems with land documentation are also very poor people who cannot afford the prohibitive charges being levied.”

He said landlords in most of Makueni’s urban areas are unable to access financial facilities using land they own as they don’t have official ownership documents.

The governor also decried land grabbing menace by powerful individuals and appealed to the ministry of lands to help reclaim a piece of land grabbed from the Makindu stadium by a senior public officer.

“Someone has grabbed land in Makindu.We have even written to him as county and he goes bragging that we are a small entity and therefore we can do nothing. The government should help us reclaim the grabbed piece of land,” Prof Kibwana pleaded.

Speaking at the event Mr Mung’aro ordered the ministry staff to work with their county colleagues to ensure reclamation of the Makindu stadium land.

“We will send out officers on Monday to look into the grabbing of the stadium. At the moment we don’t tolerate such acts, no one is allowed to use their big offices to execute grabbing of public property,”Mr Mung’aro said.

Mr Mung’aro also warned corrupt land officers that they will be dealt with ruthlessly following complaints that some were demanding bribes before offering services to the public.

“We have had complaints about some of our officers. I want to summon all of them to come to Nairobi on Monday, so that they can share with us what their problems are,” the CAS said.

He announced that the national government will in the next three months issue an additional 67,000 land title deeds to residents of Makueni County who have for long lived as squatters in their own land.

Ngai Ndethya, Ngiluni, Mbetwani, Kiboko A, B and C are among some of the settlement areas with major outstanding land problems that have hindered issuance of titles for years.

Makueni County Land ECM Joshua Wambua whose department hosted the event said several land clinics were held across the county culminating into the land conference.

“We have held quite a number of clinics.We do believe that the conference we have had today will in a way resolve some of the problems we have faced  even if not all,”Mr Wambua said.

Several land sector reform experts led by the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Land Alliance Odenda Lumumba were among speakers at the event.

Makueni residents living in the coast region on Thursday unveiled a Makueni Diaspora-Mombasa chapter with a view to take a united and active role in development of the county. 

The outfit has on its inauguration donated 83 pieces of iron sheets to support victims of floods in rebuilding their houses in the occasion graced by governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana.

The community has also contributed Sh 3.3 million to purchase shares in Ene Microfinance with a target of Sh 5 Million before the bank opens its doors. 

The objectives of the community, according to its chairman Richard Kinovi include:

Uniting all Makueni residents living in the Coastal region to support economic growth of the members and mobilise resources to invest in their mother county.

Market the county products in Mombasa to spearhead the economic development of the county.

Partnering with other diaspora chapters such as the London based-UK chapter to mobilise resources and exploit potential economic opportunities for members and the county.

“We are very great full for the support we are getting from our people in the diaspora.As a government we are ready and very much willing to work with you,”the governor said.

Prof  Kibwana has lauded the Mombasa chapter for demonstrating what a model diaspora community should do to institutionalize its operations and set itself for greater socio-economic and political influence of its mother County. 

He said in the near future, diaspora chapters will be opened in Nairobi,  London and other cities with the hope that the diaspora community will create links with each other and sustain a vibrant discourse on the development of their mother county.