On Tuesday, Gender, Children, Youth, Sports and Social Services Executive Nicholas Nzioka held a meeting with Harriette Chiggai, President advisor on women rights with their discussions centered on standing up against Gender-Based Violence in the County.
Chiggai was elated by structures put in place such safe house, operational Policare among others.
Excavation works for desilting of Ndukuma Dam in Muvau Ward, Makueni Constituency, has started.
The works include clearing vegetation, 5-meter deep excavation of the dam basin to remove silt accumulated over decades and raising the embankment by 0.5metres to increase the capacity of the dam.
Once the 58-acre dam is refurbished, it will serve more than 19 villages in the area. The work is being carried out by Makueni County Engineers led by CEC for Water Eng. Kasyoki Kieti and our county machine operators and technicians.
The county has committed a total of Kshs 50 million for this first phase.
Makueni county fire and rescue brigade has been feted top nationally beating other Counties, parastatals among other entities.
The team under the Directorate of Special Programmes and Emergency services braised stiff competition from 22 counties and big organizations such as Kenya Airports Authority, and G4S, among others to emerge top while Isiolo ranked second and Kenya Airport Authority third respectively.
The concluded Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) competition was held at Kenya airport Authority Training School, Nairobi.
The county also produced the best Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Erick Muli, a paramedic based in Matiliku Sub County Hospital.
Muli beat 10 other EMT paramedics for institutions such as Red Cross, Avenue Health rescue, Komarock modern hospital, Mary hill, and Bristol Park among others.
The symposium themed, “Towards growing effective and efficient emergency rescue and response teams 2022” covered fire service leadership, community fire safety, tactical firefighting, emergency medical service, and fire engine operation where the Makueni team thrived in showcasing their prowess.
The symposium attracted over 300 fire emergency and rescue practitioners, the Kenya Council of Emergency Medical Technicians, the Chief fire mission, and other partners.
The competition was organized in partnership between the Africa Fire Mission, Polish Center for International Aid, Kenya Medical Care Technician (KMCT), and Kenya National Fire Brigade Association (KENFIBA).
According to the County Chief Fire Officer Urbanus Kioko Kyalo, Makueni has had intensive training by the Polish Center for International Aid on fire emergency rescue through an MOU signed between the organization and Makueni in 2020.
Through the MOU, the Polish Center for International Aid has donated state-of-the-art firefighting equipment, a road traffic accident vehicle as well as the establishment of a fire fighting station at Makindu along Mombasa Nairobi highway.
Mr. Kyalo noted that the Makueni fire and rescue brigade was awarded a trophy, a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitating Monitor to aid in emergency medical services, two complete sets of trauma bags, and cash prizes.
“In the past 4 years we have been able to respond and attend to 198 fire incidents and also road traffic accidents mostly along the Mombasa Nairobi highway involving vehicles ferrying petroleum products,” said Mr. Kyalo.
The team has also rescued a number of newborn babies thrown into deep pit latrines.
The team had time with the Governor during a firefighting drill within the County headquarters with the Governor maintaining that the team needed more resources to enable them to respond to various disasters.
“This is a commendable job done by our team, we must enhance our disaster response preparedness to avoid loss of lives and property,” he said.
Devolution Executive Japheth Musyoka Mang’oka on Saturday visited Mba Primary School in Kako/Waia, Mbooni Sub-County to assess the basic physical structures in the school following Strong winds that blew off roofs of several classrooms on Friday.
Mang’oka observed that the area experienced torrential rainfall which was accompanied by powerful gusts of wind leading to destruction of a section of the school, with the ECD classrooms being the most affected.
He assured parents that infrastructural personnel will be send on Monday to ascertain levels of damage caused.
However, he revealed that the school will receive over 600 seedlings from the Environment Department which will be planted in the school compound to blunt the school buildings from chilling power of stiff winds.
At Chief’s Camp, Kibwezi town in Kikukmbulyu South ward, Kibwezi East Sub-County, elated farmers receive planting seeds donated by the County Government.
Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Development Executive Committee Member Ms. Joyce M. Mutua who oversaw the distribution exercise asked the farmers to embrace good agricultural practices including soil conservation during planting and weeding to enhance the productivity of the farming land in Makueni County.
At least 130,000 households will benefit from certified planting seeds. The seeds consist of 149 metric tonnes of maize, 40 tonnes of beans, 127 tonnes of sorghum and 85 tonnes of green grams. The exercise was contacted across the 30 wards. Wards in upper and mid-zones received Maize and beans while ward in the low land areas received Sorghum and green grams. Residents were urged to take advantage of the county donated climate-resilient seeds for sustainable agriculture.
On Saturday, several County Government officials joined forces with other Environmental Champions and greening movements to plant trees across the county. The exercise is part of the county’s wider strategy to increase forest cover, restore degraded land, protect various habitats, and build climate change adaptation and resilience in the long run.
The events were graced by CECMs Dr. Sonia Nzilani (Environment), Nicholas Masila Nzioka (Gender, Children, Youth, Sports & Social Service), Japheth Mang’oka (Devolution), Permanent Secretary Nominees Terry Mbaika (Devolution), and Ephantus Kimotho (State Department for Forestry).
