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150 young people to benefit from agribusiness training scholarships

At least 150 young people from Makueni County will undergo an intensive three months agribusiness training at the Miramar International College, Nairobi.

The 150 are representatives from the 30 wards, awarded scholarships by the German International Development Agency (GIZ), through the County government and KCB foundation.

The youths will be trained on hydroponics technology at the college for three months, and undergo a further three month training at the field.

They will also undergo business incubation where they will learn how to develop business and marketing plans besides enjoying discounted financing and ready market for their products.

This training is spearheaded by the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES) and Makueni County Government’s department of Education,Youth, Sports and ICT.

The 150 youths were flagged off to Nairobi by governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana, GIZ advisor on Employment for Sustainable Development Dr.Henrik Schmidtke and KCB senior manager partnerships John Waimiri at ATC Kwakathoka Wednesday.

Governor Kibwana said his administration will continue to invest in projects that create jobs or enable youths to start their own businesses.

“It is our hope that initiatives like this one shall make agriculture more attractive to youth, promote use of technology in Agriculture, improve young people’s skills and enable them create job opportunities in Agribusiness,” he said.

“Engaging the youth population fully is therefore nolonger a choice but an imperative in the development process that is also recognised by the Makueni County Government Vision 2025,” Kibwana said further.

Dr.Schmidtket said the economic potential of the youth working in the informal sector is far from being fulfilled, mainly due to their insufficient access to knowledge, information and education, limited access to capital assets including land, inadequate access to financial services and limited access to markets.

He said providing youth in the informal sector with skills and enterprise development is a critical driver of job creation, income generation and overall improvement of livelihoods.

Go for Tetheka Funds: DG urges women traders

Makueni deputy governor Adelina Mwau has advised women to go for readily available government funded loaning facilities to help grow their businesses.

Mwau who spoke at a women empowerment event held at Masongaleni ward in Kibwezi East sub county said the government availed loans were easy to access and conditions easy to meet for women seeking to grow their small scale businesses.

Mwau, called on Makueni women to embrace the readily available tetheka fund as an opportunity.

“The county is offering opportunities through various schemes and women should not be left behind but should be among those benefiting from some of these programs,” Adelina said.

The group of women in leadership drawn from the council of governor’s and the UN focused more on motivating the most of the societies afflicted; women and the youth to grab whatever available resources offered by both county and the national governments.

Other speakers accompanying the deputy governor were the CEC gender, children, culture and social services in Makueni Dr. Godfrey Makau, the area MCA Richard Kasyoki among others.

Previous beneficiaries of the Tetheka fund spend time explaining the benefits of the funds started by the county government to support small scale businesses.

The fund has seen many women and youth venture into businesses such as poultry keeping, goat keeping, water tanks merry-go-rounds across the county

  • August 22, 2018 in News

Makueni Secures Ksh. 168 Million from World Bank

Makueni County has secured a Ksh168 million grant from the World Bank to advance its devolution development agenda.

The grant, disbursed through the national ministry of Devolution, under the Kenya Devolution Support Programme (KDSP) is meant for capital investments and building capacities for improved devolved service delivery.

Makueni is among 13 counties that have received a total of Sh 1.9 Billion under the programme.

The 13 were competitively selected from the 47 counties upon achievement of respective disbursement linked parameters key among them audited accounts.

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa who presented cheques to the qualifying governors urged the county chiefs to channel the funds to the BIG FOUR agenda.

Deputy governor Adelina Mwau has said the funds will be channeled towards key sectors of the county economy such as Water, Agricultural value chain addition and health promotion

Makueni county executive for Finance and Social Economic planning Mary Kimanzi said the cabinet would sit to decide on the projects to invest the grant in, and which will positively impact on the lives of Makueni residents.

The event was held at the Laico Regency hotel in Nairobi.

Government releases Ksh 3.5 billion to fund Thwake dam project: Ruto

The government last week released Sh 3.5 billion to finance the construction of Thwake dam Deputy President William Ruto said on Monday.

The money released by the government is part of the Sh 63 billion budget for the construction of the dam, a major investment by the National Government in the county.

“Last week the government released Sh 3.5 billion for the Thwake dam project and President Kenyatta will soon be here to officially launch it,”Mr Ruto said.

He was speaking during the official launch of the International Youth Week at the ATC Kwa Kathoka in Makueni where  he told the residents that the Jubilee government has major plans for the county.

The DP was accompanied by  Makueni Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana, Deputy Governor Adelina  Mwau, Public Service,Youth and Gender Cabinet Secretary  Prof Margaret Kobia and her Sports counterpart Rashid Achesa.

Makueni County, the DP said was at the center of the Jubilee government’s development plans.

He took time to explain  the Jubilee government’s agenda four programs adding that towns in rural areas will benefit greatly from the initiative  that includes a multibillion housing plan  meant to improve shelter in the country.

He said young people are  key to the country’s future and that the Jubilee government has decided to invest in their education and manpower development.

“We need safe spaces in our colleges.I am happy am talking to our people here who are college students,” he said.

He said plans have been put in place to  give Sh 30,000 bursary to technical college students while Tvet college scholars will be allowed access to Higher Education Loans Board loans of not more than Sh 40,000 annually.

Prof Kibwana hailed the DP for having found time to grace the youth event in Makueni adding the locals are now ready to work with the government through the handshake initiative to realize tangible development.

“We are happy Mr DP for having found time to grace this event.As the people of Makueni we are now ready to work with the government.This handshake has deradicalised us,” the governor said.

He said his government had come up with a youth led initiative- the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES) to help create opportunities for the over 350,000 young people in the county.

Prof Kobia said that the youth had become a global agenda and that her ministry will roll out plans to ensure issues affecting the young people economically and socially are dealt with.

“The theme for this  year’s youth week is safe spaces for the youth and we ask ourselves to what extent are we creating safe spaces for the youth.How do we empower the youth to be able to do what they are able to do,” the CS said.

Mwau said the county was happy to host the major event and urged the government to create opportunities for young people and women.

DG leads negotiations with Israeli global solar firm

Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau has said Makueni County has greater potential in solar energy that remains an attraction to  investors in the green energy sector.

Mwau who met a top Israeli green energy investor the CEO of Gigawatts Global Mr Yosef Abramowitz  in Nairobi on Thursday said that despite the potential, most households in Makueni  County remained unlit with electricity cost  too prohibitive for the locals.

Mwau said the county has opened doors to potential investors showing interest in solar harvesting in the area adding that the  county’s 10 hours of sunshine a day could be turned into a blessing through solar harvesting initiatives.

“Our county has not benefitted majorly from the national government’s  rural electrification plan.This could be the way out. It could help us get power and facilitate the lighting of the Makueni villages,”Mwau said.

Speaking during the meeting Mr Abramowitz said Gigawatts Global is interested in potential partnership  in the energy related areas.

He said his organisation is a leader in green energy installations around the world and that the company has successfully ventured in Africa adding that any initiative in Makueni will be supported.

“We are open to any working relationship with Makueni county.We are impressed by the strong governance credentials shown by the county government.It shows it will be very easy for us to work with you,”Mr Abramowitz said.

Transport ECM Sebastian Kyoni who was also present said the county is ready to work with Gigawatts Global once they are ready to make a move.

“We have the capacity to host a major solar power investment.If Gigawatts makes a move we will partner with them,” he said.

Taita Taveta County Officials in Makueni to learn new tricks

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.

  • July 24, 2018 in News

100 young people graduate in “Man Enough” program

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.

  • July 13, 2018 in News

Five of 21 Suspects Linked to The Defilement Case of A 15-Year Old Pupil Transferred to Different Law Courts

Kilungu law courts senior resident magistrate Charles Mayamba has this morning referred five of the 21 suspects who allegedly defiled a 15-year-old pupil in Ilima Ward to different law courts within Makueni County.

Mathew Mumbu, a primary school teacher will on 24th of July 2018 be arraigned in Makindu law courts for the mention while Paul Musau, will have his case mentioned on 26th of this month at Tawa law courts.
Mayamba reported that his decision was arrived at from his previous ruling on the same case where he convicted a man for a life sentence.

‘’It would be detrimental and against the tenets of Justice for me to continue with these cases owing to documented opinion in my judgement in the other cases’’ he said.

Last month the magistrate also convicted a 30-year-old for 80 years in prison for defiling his five-year-old daughter.

Thirteen other suspects accused of defiling the class six pupil on different dates between February and May are still at large and the police are looking for them.
Fida Kenya sent two lawyers to give legal support to the complainant’s case.

Deputy governor Adelina Mwau who has been following the case keenly sat through the proceedings and expressed her satisfaction in the way the case is being handled.

She said that in the past, for years such cases were catching dust under magistrates’ watch while perpetrators roomed free.

‘’We have lost evidence in many cases without proper explanation but we are now registering our satisfaction in the way defilement cases are being handled in Makueni,” Mwau noted.

Kenyatta lonely in war against graft: Kibwana

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.

  • July 9, 2018 in News

Mwau in meeting with women leaders to strategize on stemming children rights abuses

Makueni women leaders on Friday  held a consultative meeting to brainstorm on strengthening coordination, response and prevention of children rights violation.

The forum convened by the Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau brought together women County Executive Committee Members,MCAs,Chief Officers,Sub County Administrators and officials from the Maendeleo ya Wanawake organization.

Mwau asked members of the County Assembly to pass child protection policies that will soon be proposed by the executive and forwarded to the assembly for consideration.

“I want to urge the members of the county assembly in Makueni to pass Bills on child protection policies that the executive brings forward,”She said.

The DG who was speaking at the Hunters lodge in Makindu also said that a gender recovery center is also being set up at the Makueni level 4 hospital.

The deputy governor also urged the women leaders to sensitize the local residents to bring out social needs during county public participation for budgeting.

“Water and roads are very important to our lives, but most of the parents cannot afford sanitary towels for their children.So some are enticed into immorality to survive We can budget as a county and save our girls,’’ She said.

Mwau promised to consolidate both the county assembly and the executive so that they create awareness in the society.

“During our public participation  barazas this will be top in the list as we talk development,’’ She said.

The DG also proposed that the ministry of education trains the county ECDE teachers and the training programme be included in their performance appraisals.

She said that ECDE teachers mingle a lot with the baby class pupils whose rights gets violated in most cases.and they go silent on it.

Equality Now campaigns officer Florence Machio who was the facilitator urged the leaders to bring teachers and parents on board,saying that in most cases they are the first people to discover rights abuses against children.

“If teachers and parents are left out in this discussion, we will not have solved the delinquent matter. They need to know steps they need to take in case children are sexually abused’’ She said.

Machio said that corruption sometimes hinders the process, accusing some doctors of receiving bribes from the perpetrators to kill the evidence.

“She pleaded with the county government to create avenues in schools where proper structures can be put in place so that the children can highlight their plight freely.

Janet Kitung’a,a nominated MCA said she has been pushing to have members of the county assembly represented in the Court users committee for public participation in judicial processes.

According to the children’s officer in the county Ms Evelyn Kaluki, Makueni law court in Wote reported 22 cases of defilement, four incest cases and five rape cases to girls over eighteen years old but still in school in 2017.

In 2018 from January to June already 13 defilement cases  have been reported.