Makueni county has inked a joint work plan worth KSh.1 Billion with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to stimulate the growth of the local economy for the 2022/23 financial year.
The partnership was signed by Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr and USAID Mission Director in Kenya David Gosney on Wednesday in Wote.
Some of the key activities identified for collaborative implementation are:
Provision of nutrition commodities to support treatment of moderate acute malnutrition for the under-fives and pregnant and lactating women , strengthening of Community Health Strategy using Community Health Volunteers (Heath and Nutrition); strengthening child protection committees and operationalization of Makueni Development and Rescue Centre, strengthening integrated GBV prevention and management ( Social Protection); and increase Public Participation on budgeting process as well as conduct civic education in the county ( public participation).
Others are promoting the development of cottage industries, supporting manufacturing-related innovations, promoting and registration of cooperative societies, strengthening institutional capacities in the cooperative movement (Trade and Cooperatives Development); launching tourism circuits in Makueni, documentation and digitization of indigenous knowledge (Tourism and cultural development); and Crop, Livestock Pests and Disease Control and agricultural Extension Programme ( Agriculture).
Bill Gates the co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation visited Makueni County on a discovery trip to see the impact of Primary Health Care in the County.
Accompanied by Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior, Bill Gates visited the Kathonzweni Level 3 hospital where he met with medical staff and Community Health Volunteers and later toured the mother and Child Care unit at the Makueni County Referral Hospital.
Makueni County has enlisted a significant number of Community Health Volunteers who have contributed to better prenatal care and safer deliveries in the region.
The County health team presented some of the key steps taken to improve service delivery, monitor the purchase and distribution of health commodities as well as steps the County took to ensure the facilities remained open for immunizations even during the Covid -19 pandemic.
Governor Mutula lauded the County health workers for using data to manage health care and health commodities.
Further, the County has shortened access to medical facilities for the residents and introduced a system where health centers can re-invest the cash paid for services in running costs and improvements required.
H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Thursday paid a courtesy call to the Makueni Agri-hub at Kwa Kathoka for an insight about the operations of the oil seed pressing plant.
The plant, owned by Italian firm Eni Kenya, processes vegetable oil from cotton, castor, and croton seeds for bio-refining to make biofuel.
According to a report on the project status “Seeds for Energy”, the firm is currently involving 25,000 farmers, with an early agricultural production projection of 30,000 tons per year by 2023 and an expected 200,000 tons per year by 2026 when the firm will be fully operational.
Three months ago, the firm shipped out its first vegetable oil cargo to Gela bio-refinery-one of the top innovative bio-refineries in Europe.
The Governor was thrilled by the fact that thousands of farmers in Makueni have turned to farming the firm’s raw materials, creating indirect employment opportunities for them, and directly where many people have secured jobs in the industry.
More important, Governor Mutula was elated by the company’s circular economy model in producing Agri-feedstock raw materials making livestock feeds production less cost.
The Mukuyuni market traders in Kaiti Sub-County have something to smile about as the process of modernizing the market place gathers steam.
The project which is implemented by Wote Municipality is funded by World Bank through the Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP) and will be ready for use in the next 5 months, Wote Municipal Manager, Urbanus Mbindyo has said.
This was revealed on Tuesday when representatives from the Ministry of Devolution, World Bank, and the Council of Governors met with H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr together with his deputy Lucy Mulili. The meeting sought to brief the governor on the status of KUSP projects and the ongoing preparations for designing a new program to succeed KUSP.
The Mukuyuni modern market will accommodate over 150 traders. Its design has a provision for two floors which will have a cold room, a hybrid solar system, stalls, shops, and a drive-through for road users as well as a solid waste management system. It will also have solar lighting and 30,000-liter rainwater harvesting tank.
Other projects implemented through KUSP in the county are Wote Public Green Park, the upgrading of Wote roads to Bitumen standards, the upgrading of Wote Marikiti market, and the erection of the 27 solar high mast lighting project.
Makueni, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) implementing partners on Friday concluded a two-day joint work planning workshop aiming at ensuring no duplication of development projects in the county.
The partners’ discussion stretched into joint designing, planning, monitoring, and learning so that they don’t implement similar projects.
The process of a joint work plan is a result of an MoU that the County signed with USAID in 2020, and has since provided an avenue to jointly examine data, and evaluate past progress so as to identify priority areas for the next fiscal year.
During the workshop, the partners identified the main priority areas of the Governor’s Manifesto for inclusion in the Joint Work Planning, awaiting validation and signing off by USAID and Makueni for implementation to commence.
The workshop was facilitated by USAID Resilience Learning Activity (RLA).
Wote: October 28, 2022
Deputy governor H.E Lucy Mulili on Friday received a delegation in her office from the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement program (KISIP) in a move to plan a roadmap to improve informal settlements within Makueni’s towns.
According to Dr. Peris Mang’ira, KISIP national coordinator, before embarking on an improvement project of the informal settlements, they will first conduct project planning and do a survey as well as aerial drone photography.
The project comes after Mjini village (Kibwezi town), Misongeni (Makindu town), and Soko-Mjinga in Emali town qualified for tenure regularization intervention under the project.
Makueni is among the counties funded by the World Bank through the state department of housing to improve their informal settlements.
The Deputy Governor noted that mushrooming of informal settlements is a hindrance to getting accurate boundaries and buffer zoning as well as land management, welcoming the KISIP team to partner with the county in the entire process.
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) is seeking to partner with Makueni in a move to improve road safety measures on all roads that fall within the KeNHA purview in the county.
This was revealed today following a courtesy call by KeNHA Lower Eastern Regional Director Eng. James Kariuki to H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.
Eng. Kariuki said that they were embarking on various interventions towards ensuring that the roads are safer for users in Makueni.
Some of the proposed areas of collaboration include: rolling out tree-planting exercises along the roads, joint solutions regarding traffic issues caused by Matatus parking on the road shoulders, and relocation of traders spreading in road reserves across various market centers.
However, it was observed that the county government should liaise with KeNHA before allocating permits to businesses abutting roadways to ensure that the businesses are viable in view of location and safety
Sensitization of citizens on the importance of protection and preservation of the road asset was also emphasized.
Governor Mutula raised concerns about the increasing deaths of traffic hawkers operating in the towns of Salama, Emali, and Sultan-Hamud among other towns along the Northern corridor section urging KeNHA for immediate intervention to ensure the safety of the traders.
The First Lady H.E Anita Mutula today held a consultative meeting with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) corporation where they discussed possible areas of working together.
GIZ is an international organization that works with national, international, and private sector partners and concerns itself with priority areas; sustainable economic development, renewable energy, and climate change.
GIZ eyes to partner with the County through the office of the First Lady to empower women from deep within the villages.
The partnership aims at creating more consumer awareness and adoption of new friendly technologies such as improved cooking stoves for locals among others.
Anita was thrilled by the new technology saying that it will create jobs for the youth and reduce respiratory problems linked to firewood use.
