Reject Online Issue 81

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

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April 16-30, 2013

ISSUE 081

A bimonthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS

Hope in County government Devolved system of governance could be Kenya’s last chance

By JOYCE CHIMBI In the wake of the most competitive and complex general election in the country’s history, it is all systems go as Kenya transits from a centralized to a devolved system of governance.

Many are hopeful that the solution to hunger, poverty and gross inequalities that have bedevilled the country lie in a devolved system of governance.

“Due to the centralized system, where all decisions regarding this country are made in Nairobi, people travel from the other seven regions to Nairobi since they believe it represents prospects for a better life,” says Dr Danson Mwangangi, an economist and market researcher in East Africa.

He says that centralization of power and resources has compromised the establishment of strong linkages between policy, planning and execution of the national budget.

“When the national budget is being read in parliament, millions of poor Kenyans hurdle around radio sets for news on price reductions of major items, our concern being our day to day survival,” says Benjamin Owuor, a mason in Nairobi.

He notes: “Decisions regarding the needs of ordinary Kenyans are made in the Parliament that sits in Nairobi, we now want these decisions made in County assemblies that sit where the ordinary Kenyans are.”

With recent statistics by the World Bank revealing that of the 800,000 job seekers, the job market can only absorb a paltry 50,000, thousands of job seekers come to Nairobi to scramble for the limited opportunities.

Inequality

As a result, according to experts on devolution, the country is experiencing massive inequalities across regions as the best brains move to Nairobi.

Ted Ndebu, a consulting policy analyst says that a centralized system of governance does not take into account poverty levels across regions in the dissemination of resources.

“Take Central Kenya, for instance, while poverty levels are generally above 60 per cent nationally, here poverty levels have largely been below 30 per cent,” Ndebu expounds.

As a result, Mwangangi says, national budget resources have not trickled down to the ordinary Kenyan in a manner that would improve service delivery or even address their plight effectively.

Still, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), devolved funds established under the

centralized government, allocates 75 per cent of its resources equally across the 210 (in previous parliament) constituencies in Kenya, and only 25 per cent is based on the poverty rate of particular constituencies.

Ndebu notes that this is not enough to address inequalities across regions. “How can a district in Central Kenya receive the same aggregate allocations per head as a district in Nyanza with a poverty level of over 50 per cent?” he poses.

The Central region also enjoys the advantage of being one of the regions closest to Nairobi city.

“It is such insensitivity to regional inequalities that has provoked people at the Coast region to threaten secession. This is an overflow of feelings of exclusion and neglect by postindependence governments,” Ndebu explains.

Similar sentiments have also been expressed by residents of Northern Kenya.

“When we talk among ourselves, you will hear people saying that they are coming to Kenya, meaning they are coming to Nairobi city. We don’t feel as if we belong to Kenya,” says Ali Continued on page 5

Kenyans walking to work. Below: James Onyango a jua kali artisan at his shed in Nakuru County. Devolution will improve efficiency in allocation and execution of resources, equity, citizen participation and empowerment.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent and Boniface Thuku

Read more Reject stories online at w w w. m d c a f r i c a . o r g

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ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Future of teenager hangs in the balance after a hit and run accident

By JOHN MAINA Last year August is a month that will remain the darkest in Maureen Moraa’s life. The 15-year-old student was crossing the road in Keroka town in Kisii County when a speeding motorist hit her and took off.

Moraa’s mother, Rose Mokeira, and good Samaritans helped rush her to hospital where she was admitted and treated for head and spinal injuries.

Since then, the teenager’s life has never been the same after she sustained head and spinal injuries. This has left her mother wondering if her daughter’s life will ever get back normal.

In a single dilapidated room at the Rhonda estate in the outskirts of Nakuru town, Mokeira, who has five other children, is nursing her daughter.

Mokeira survives by working as a casual working washing clothes and

cleaning homes in the lakeside town.

She does not have much to give to her daughter and the best that she can offer is company and morale support.

Victim

“Due to the fact that I am disabled, I cannot do heavy work. I fend for my family by washing clothes and utensils for neighbours who pay me in return,” explains Mokeira during the interview.

Although Mokeira lives in Nakuru, at the time of the accident Moraa was in Keroka town where she was staying with her grandmother.

According to a discharge letter from Tenwek Hospital in Kisii, Moraa sustained severe closed head injuries with seizures and partial fractured spinal cord.

According Mokeira, Moraa was discharged from Tenwek Hospital when the bill escalated to KSh135,000 and they were unable to settle it leav-

ing the girl with a bleak future.

Since then, several religious groups and friends have contributed KSh85,000 towards the hospital bill leaving a balance of KSh50,000.

Moraa sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 2011 and attained 270 marks. Her ambition was to continue with her studies so she agreed to repeat class eight, in a bid to attain better marks that would see her access bursary funds.

Mokeira says the accident killed her daughter’s dreams. She notes says that the girl who cannot talk, walk or even support herself, needs urgent medical attention in order to get her life back.

Incapacitated

The high hospital charges deter Mokeira from seeking further medical attention for Moraa and she is left with no option but to sit beside her day and night hoping

that one day, a good Samaritan will knock on their door and give hope to otherwise drowned hopes.

Moraa’s father has been at large since the accident. Although he calls once in a while, he claims to be in a different town every time looking for work to assist them.

The five remaining children are now distributed among extended family members to lighten the burden for Mokeira.

According to Alice Misati, Mokeira’s sister and the only immediate guardian to the desperate family who is living with two of the children, they had earlier tried to take the girl to Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital but were sent away for lack of funds required for a patient’s admission.

The family is now calling on wellwishers to come to Moraa’s aid to enable her undergo physiotherapy as well as acquire other medication required to help her recover.

Maurine Moraa at their home in Rhonda estate Nakuru County. She sustained head and spinal injuries during the hit and run accident. Picture: John Maina

Cecilia Kiogora: Angel of mercy for Coast cancer patients Inmates plead for parole in jubilee year

By ATIENO AKUMU For the past eleven years, she has been helping cancer patients through the tough and frustrating journey that begins once they are diagnosed with cancer.

Like a general, Cecilia Kiogora has seen some of her patients fight the condition successfully to be bestowed the ‘coveted’ title of survivors.

She has also seen others pass on after a long and protracted battle with the terminal disease.

However, when the inevitable happens, her focus shifts to the next patient requiring her care and comfort. Her hands are always full with patients to care for.

“My job is basically to manage cancer patients,” explains Kiogora with humility that belies the enormous task on her shoulders.

It is around 2pm as I sit for the interview and Kiogora discloses she has already made over 40 calls to patients who come for drugs, counselling and support at the Coast Hospice, where she works as a nurse.

When making telephone calls does not suffice, like in a case where a patient is bedridden, Kiogora along with three other nurses follow the patient physically to their respective homes.

Progress

She has been visiting patients in their homes in South Coast, Voi and other areas in the province, to ensure that their last days are peaceful and dignified.

“We also train kin to be caregivers to keep the bedridden patient from developing bedsores,” she says.

Kiogora notes that the emotional burden that comes with having a cancer patient is enormous. And what’s more, the passing on of a breadwinner can be painful to the extent of causing children to desert homes.

“Cancer is a progressive condition and apart from ‘swallowing’ money, it also wears one down emotionally and psychologically, family members of the patient included,” explains Kiogora who attends to patients who suffer from breast, cervical and pancreatic cancers among others.

She says apart from a few cases, most of those who come to the hos-

By NICOLE WAITHERA

pice are people with progressed malignancies, with their only remedy being palliative care to relieve pain and make them go about their daily business.

“Some patients come with stage three cancers and the only thing one can do in such a case is to offer palliative care,” notes Kiogora. She says the care and support helps the patients die in dignity.

According to Kiogora, those patients whom doctors diagnose with cancer at the onset of the disease have a higher survival rate. Some of the survivors who underwent radiotherapy 15 years ago and had their cancers dealt with visit the hospice every second week of every month to share on their triumphs over cancer with those still battling the illness.

“When survivors narrate how they have been able to embark on their daily activities like farming, it renders hope to those who may feel like giving up,” notes Kiogora.

Bear

When it is evident a family is bearing a heavy emotional burden brought about by caring for a patient, she summons family members to reconcile before the patient passes on. Such a move helps to forestall any strife or blame games, especially before a patient dies.

Apart from counselling relatives, if it necessitates, Kiogora designates roles to relatives to ensure the patient gets a good diet and is well taken care of to avoid them suffering psychologically.

Cecilia Kiogora addresses some of her clients at the Coast Hospice. She gives palliative care to cancer patienta.

Picture: Atieno Akumu She gives an example of a prostate cancer patient who has to be changed clothes by his daughter in the absence of a male figure to take care of him. She says such a situation could make a patient sink deeper “into the dudgeons of despair or even develop suicidal thoughts”.

“Imagine someone who was once strong but is incapacitated by cancer to an extent that he cannot take himself to the toilet,” Kiogora laments.

She says families of pancreatic as well as liver cancer patients are among those who have to put up with a heavy emotional burden as the patients are prone to become hysterical.

There are a number of cervical cancer patients are also HIV positive.

She attributes the cancer to weakened body immunity that exposes the body to opportunistic infections, cancer included.

“You surely cannot increase one’s days but you can help patients pass on peacefully and with dignity.”

— Cecilia Kiogora

“Only recently I met a patient who claimed not to have slept for 21 days due to pain from cancer of the pancreas,” Kiogora says adding, “I gave him a dose of liquid morphine and the following day, he thanked me profusely asking if I could give him my number.”

Patients with cancers that have progressed and are in pain are normally offered liquid morphine to alleviate pain.

Progress

However, Kiogora’s lowest moments are when patients die after a short battle with cancer.

According to Abigael Mwangi, the Coast Hospice administrator, people who come for palliative care and support have no money to pay for the drugs.

The Hospice is linked to the Coast Provincial General Hospital (CPGH) by the virtue doctors at Rahimtullah Ward (oncology ward) who refer patients to the Hospice for palliative care.

Mwangi says even though drugs at the facility are subsidised, patients still find it difficult to buy them, forcing the Hospice to give drugs to the patients free of charge.

Kiogora, who is an alumni of Nyeri Nursing School, says: “You surely cannot increase one’s days but you can help patients pass on peacefully and with dignity.”

Inmates at the Naivasha Maximum Prison are appealing to President Uhuru Kenyatta to release them in the jubilee year.

They cited the Bible saying the biblical jubilee year saw the release of inmates who had been jailed for long by the king through the presidential pardon.

Speaking to journalists at the institution, the inmates argued that President Kenyatta should pardon them on this year when the country is also celebrating its 50 years of independence.

Reform

The inmates argue that they have reformed and were not the same people who were convicted of offences.

Among those appealing for their release is Peter Kamau, an inmate who has managed to sit for all CPA up to level K, the highest level in the land, without repeating any level. He is currently serving a life imprisonment over a robbery with violence charge.

Kamau is currently pursuing a degree in commerce through distance learning from Strathmore University.

“I want to serve all Kenyans. I am a great mathematician and I hope to be a banker one day. I want to serve Kenyans and pay taxes like any other Kenyan,” said Kamau.

Authority

Another inmate, Kaberia Itaaru, who has authored three books has also asked the President to remember them when he pardons inmates this year.

“We are also Kenyans and no matter what the court ruled over us, we want to be free,” said Kaberia.

He is also serving life imprisonment over a robbery with violence charge.

Officer in charge of the facility Patrick Mwenda also called on the government to consider their release.

“They have truly changed in character. The best gift the new government can give them is to free them, they are good people who have reformed and deserve a second chance,” he noted.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Serving the community lays foundation for medic’s inspiration

By VALENTINE ATIENO In Kenya it is not common for people to resign from well paying jobs to try their hands in politics. However, for Dr Monica Ogutu, a trained medic, left a well-paying job at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) to start working for her community.

In 1995 Ogutu quit her job after completing her studies on Maternal Health in Uppsala Sweden to embark on community service. She then founded the Kisumu Medical Education Trust (KMET).

“I wanted an institution within the community to assist young girls lead normal life,” she explains.

However, not many people around her welcomed the move. Her colleagues and husband thought she was crazy and were opposed to the whole idea as they thought she had risen to a good position.

“My husband was so annoyed and thought that something was wrong with me,” says Ogutu adding that “he even engaged a counsellor assuming that I had a mental problem”.

Inception

Her husband only gave in after a series of meetings but on agreement that the relocation will not interfere with the studies of their children.

“I decided to form an NGO to deal with women’s issues within the community and with some of my friends, we met at Kenyatta national Hospital and decided to form an organisation that later matured and made me resign and take up management seriously,” she explains.

They rolled out the programme with KSh100,000 donations that was raised from the board members.

She started without an office and could go to the community to educate them on the management of most stigmatized topics which are easy to prevent and manage like the hypertension, sepsis infection that is experienced during pregnancy and even unsafe abortion.

Inspiration

“After sometime I secured an office in Migosi area in Kisumu and later on employed a community health worker who was in charge of the office when I went out to the field,” she explains.

Ogutu was inspired by the indigenous local brains, a voice from the non-governmental organisation for the local community and with this she engaged the chiefs and ended up addressing young girls at chiefs’ meetings.

“I went ahead and met with the Ministry of Health officials and told them about what I was doing with regards to maternal health problems in Nyanza Province,” says Ogutu.

She notes that she started operating at a time when it was so difficult to get a donor because they needed to fund an NGO with a history but this was one just a newly formed.

After six months in 1995, the first donor, Planned Parenthood Foundation of Africa (PPFA) came knocking and they gave the organisation money for buying contraceptives that they took to the communities.

The organisation loaded the medicines in the bicycle and occasionally by

“One morning, a 16 year old girl came to the hospital after she had procured an abortion but the quack had damaged her uterus.”

— Dr Monica Ogutu. public transport to reach people in far flung areas.

“Then came a time for appraisal and the donor needed to know how the money had been used when they came to assess us. She was so surprised that we used bicycles to transport contraceptives and was so touched and promised to be back,” Ogutu recalls.

The donor later bought the organisation a vehicle to help in transporting the drugs to the community and this brought on board a third employee.

“The most affected people are the

girls at the community level and that is why I needed to work with lowest level providers like the mid-wives and clinical officers that the girls go to first before they are referred to other specialised institutions,” she notes.

The organisation later on engaged in writing proposals in search of money to enable it expand services.

They organised the first training to equip the mid-wives with knowledge on comprehensive post-abortion care and how to deal with it.

“Given that the girls are sexually active, we addressed abstinence and negotiation for safe sex to prevent unsafe abortion and HIV infection,” Ogutu explains.

From a humble background in Got Osimbo in Siaya County, Ogutu recalls that during her formative years she was purely consigned to fetching firewood, water and house cleaning as education for the girl child was a privilege.

The thought of becoming a successful founder of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) was unthinkable then.

A mother of three and two adopted girls, Ogutu started her primary school at Got Osimbo Primary School.

She did so well and got admission to Ngiya Girls’ Secondary School for her secondary education in 1977.

“After my fourth form I was admitted to Kenya Science to train as a teacher, something that was not my wish but that of my parents,” she says.

Unknown to her parents and for her love for nursing, she secretly applied for a nursing course at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi.

True to her passion, she excelled

in her career upon completion of the course. She worked at Kenyatta National Hospital and specialized on maternal health just to ensure that all the women got deserved attention.

She later on advanced her studies by doing midwifery at the same college and also proceeded to do her degree in nursing at the University of Nairobi.

Specialist

She was later posted to Kenyatta National Hospital as a Gynaecologist in-charge of the labour wards where she treated several young girls with different maternal and reproductive health problems.

“One morning, a 16 year old girl came to the hospital after she had procured an abortion but the quack had damaged her uterus,” recalls Ogutu.

She notes that by the time the girls was leaving the hospital, she had no uterus and her anus was destroyed because the quack messed up with vital organs in her body.

“This experience inspired me to start working within communities to help de-stigmatize abortion,” she says.

KMET has 10 organisations that they support at the community level.

They plan to expand support to 20 other organisations.

“When we started the organisation we had a total of KSh100,000 donations from the board members and now the value of K-MET as per the projects stands at KSh100 million and the building is also worth KSh160 million,” she reveals.

To date the organisation has 82 employees with a total of 17 projects on going.

Women want construction of health centre treated with utmost urgency

By ANTHONY ZOKA Midwives in Rabai are a busy lot because their services are highly required and appreciated.

Expectant mothers rely on them to deliver babies at home because they cannot access the nearest health centre which is miles away.

To get to a health centre in this region is challenging because most roads like the KibaoKicheShika-Adabu Road are dilapidated and very few vehicles ply it.

The sight of pregnant women being pushed on wheelbarrows heading to the health centre about 17 kilometres away is not a rare sight.

Recently an expectant mother was forced to deliver along the stretch before she could get to the hospital. The baby delivered by the bush was named “Menjir”, Mijikenda for one born by the roadside.

Accessibility

Such scenarios are not strange to Jimba residents of Rabai District in Kilifi County as there are no health facilities in the area worth talking about. Rabai is essentially an island surrounded by seasonal rivers which make the area inaccessible during the rainy season.

These are the challenges facing women in the region and the county government that is taking effect will have to treat as urgent.

Kanze Munga, commonly known here as Mechibega, is among the famous midwives not only in Jimba but also in the neighbouring villages of Rabai and Kisurutini locations.

“We have adapted to these problems. As women, we lack privacy as some are forced to deliver their babies on the way to hospitals located across the river. I have been called many times in the middle of the night to go and help an expectant mother to deliver a baby at home,” she says.

Kanze reveals that once she was advised by the area assistant chief to keep records of all the

children born and take the same to the nearest dispensary at a later date for recording before advising the mother to make arrangement for the new born to be registered at the chief ’s office.

Delivery

Kanze who is illiterate faced many challenges in terms of how she would record the births. “I did not have a chance to step into a class room so I did not write anything. I had a bottle where after a successful delivery, if the baby is a boy I would put a bean seed inside and a maize seed for a baby girl,” says Kanze. She adds: Soon an idea came to me that I could use my grandsons to record the date and sex of the new born; This made it possible for any person who wished to know the number of children born and their gender.”

To show just how precarious the situation is, Kanze says she uses plastic bags instead of the recommended clinical gloves in many situations as the latter are not available.

According to her records, when we visited her recently, 10 babies had been brought into the world through her efforts. They were six girls and four boys.

Joyce Yaa is one among the trained community health workers who at least has knowledge of how to safely handle an expectant woman.

“I am forced to carry all the equipment I use for delivery because you cannot tell where you are going to meet an expectant mother ready to deliver,” says Yaa. She adds: “I have on several occasions helped fellow women deliver by the roadside. That is why I have to arm myself with the necessary equipment at all times.”

However, Yaa thanks AMREF for training her with three other women from Jimba area 17 years ago.

According to Yaa, the poor infrastructure in Jimba has worsened the situation as the motorbikes currently commonly used for transport are

not safe for an expectant woman and her baby.

“We formed a women’s group by the name Jeza Zhomu (Mijikenda for try hard) over 20 years ago with the aim of bringing services to our locality, but we only managed to solve the water problem,” says Yaa. She notes: “The health sector and infrastructure is still wanting. I believe God is with us and soon the dream of having a health centre will come to reality.”

According to the 2009 census, Jimba which stretches to about 13 square kilometres has a population of 5,600 people.

It is an area surrounded by two rivers which flood during the rainy seasons affecting learning and all other activities in the area.

The poor state of road is also posing a security threat especially at night where incidents of cattle theft have been reported on several occasions.

Maternal health

Area assistant chief, Isaac Ndune Kanze Munga demonstrating how she uses plastic Mkando, admits that medical facilibags as clinical gloves in handling an expectant ties in Jimba, are essential as many mother. Picture: Anthony Zoka risk their lives through the use of traHe is calling on well-wishers and the State ditional birth attendants since hospito consider the construction of at least a distals are out of reach, especially at night. pensary in the area. He notes that a proposal However, the chief insists that there is posihad been forwarded to the Rabai District Detive change as maternal and infant mortality rate velopment . This proposal can also be shared are now decreasing despite the many home dewith the county government which is tasked liveries witnessed in the area, especially at night. with bringing services closer to the people and “The distance where the health facilities are construction of a health facility could be one located makes many opt for traditional healof them. ers, especially due to high poverty levels in our If this is done as a matter of priority, the area,” says Mkando.. He notes: “However, the women of Rabai will continue to suffer, espegood news is that there is a change as we hardly cially during delivery of their babies. record a child’s death under the age of one year.”

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Majority of Kenyans lack knowledge on devolved government

By ROBERT WANJALA The honeymoon is over as the 47 governors and 1,450 ward representatives get down to work after their elections and swearing-in.

They are now facing the reality of being the pioneers in the new devolved system of government under the new Constitution.

Indeed, pomp and colourful ceremonies witnessed across the country ushered in a new dawn of self-governance saw Kenyans bubbling with confidence and high expectations brought about by the new devolved system.

However, concerns are being raised over the country’s national unity amid these overriding anticipations.

Willis Otieno, a legal expert at Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), says the public must be alive to the fact that devolved units will have to respect the principle of national and county governments as stipulated in the Constitution.

Law

Articles 10 and 174 emphasise national values and principles of governance to people’s participation.

Under the objectives of devolution, the supreme law insists on promotion of democratic and accountable exercise of powers and to fostering national unity by recognising diversity.

Concern has been raised that without adequate accounting and oversight mechanisms in place, many government assets are open to misappropriation.

County governments are taking over local authorities, several of which are under heavy debts that range from bank loans, unpaid salaries and other benefits as well as electricity and water bills to loans from international donors.

Inheriting all these debts is likely to

slow the realisation of County government intended results to its residents.

The Constitution requires establishment of County Public Services but there has been a delay in implementing this aspect of the law to facilitate continuation of service delivery in counties.

Responsibilities

Otieno says outright roles by central government could stage a power contest between national and county level with possibilities of lawsuits against each other as they seek to assert authority.

“Constitutionally, county governments have the mandate to handle functions such as health services, trade, education, agriculture, county transport, cultural activities,” says Otieno.

National government on other hand is mandated with handling immigration and citizenship, national economy and planning, foreign affairs, police service, national security, labour standards and education policies among other key roles.

Last July, the County Transition Authority took office to facilitate and coordinate the transition to devolved system of governments as required by the 2010 Constitution.

Among the functions to be undertaken by the body include determining the transfer of assets previously owned by local authorities, facilitating development of a budget for county governments during phase one of transition period and educating the public on devolved units.

The rule of law, democracy and public participation are among the national values and principles of governance contemplated in the constitution of Kenya.

Devolution, experts argue that public participation should increase accountability among public servants.

However, low public knowledge about the functions and roles of county gov-

From top: A section of the busy Eldoret town. Below: An aerial view of the town. About KSh70 billion has been allocated for setting up the county governments. Pictures: Robert Wanjala ernments could give governors, executive committee and county assemblyelect leaders a freehand over resource misappropriation without people’s oversight.

Expectations

Kipchumba Murkomen, Senator for Keiyo-Marakwet County says: “Kenyans have high expectations as they break away from a centralised system of government to the devolved system.

Unfortunately many citizens do not know what to expect from each set of the elected leaders and the functions of the new devolved offices.”

According to Transitional Authority about KSh70 billion has been allocated for setting up the county governments. Of that, KSh60 billion will go to services while KSh9.8 billion will be spent on administration.

The Transition Authority was supposed to be set up in 2011 and start working out on devolution modalities but it was instead constituted in July 2012.

Various local authority chambers, which were designed for councillors were supposed to be modernised to reflect the new participatory role of leadership under the county governments.

Chapter 11 of the Constitution 2010 envisages that under the county

system of government, devolution will give power of self-governance to the people and enhance citizen participation in exercising the powers of the State and making decisions.

Other challenges that may delay the implementation of the new devolved governments pertains the crucial laws which were passed by the tenth Parliament before it was prorogue.

“The legislators did not have sufficient time to internalise key provisions of the new laws and this will obviously affect the operations of the new county government,” explains Murkomen.

Crucial laws that were passed early this year include Division Revenue Bill, County Appropriation and County Revenue Bill.

According to Otieno, proposed changes to laws as well as the late and hurriedly passed legislations to govern county governments’ public finance management will impact negatively on the first stages of the devolution process.

Last year, a report on devolution by World Bank pointed out to the massive task of decentralisation and the challenges of how much and how quickly it can deliver that were inevitable.

The report noted that whereas the devolved system of government offers the opportunity to reduce the

country’s current highly fragmented arrangements for service delivery, the legal structure for managing county public service has serious gaps.

“Counties will have considerable independence over public service management; responsibilities such as establishing and abolishing offices, appointing public officials and exercising disciplinary control over them,” the reports said.

Policies

It states: “There should be a clear decision as to which national laws and policies should be covered and which ones should be left to the counties.”

Equally, Murkomen says fears from the public on how the elected governors and other public servants will manage the resources at their disposal without having a free hand to misappropriate them needed to be cleared.

Meanwhile the Transitional Authority has acknowledged that there is need for scaling up public education on how the devolved systems operate.

“Kenyans still need to be educated on the role of the county governments,” says Kinuthia Wamwangi, Transitional Authority chairperson.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

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CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

Why development will not come so early to the counties

By HENRY OWINO The County Governments are here with us and set to benefit the common man at the grassroots levels.

However, this new form of devolved Government is in transition and it will be a while before benefits start trickling down to the 47 counties.

Kenyans will, therefore, have to wait a little longer for its full realisation. This might take between three to five years depending on how each county is structured. This is due to inadequate resources available and prior developments within the counties and poverty levels.

However, to the generation born before or during the time Kenya attained its independence, devolved Government is not new. The first time Kenya tried out implementation of the devolved system of government was in 1963 at independence in a semi-federal design. However, it was short lived.

Past

Then the country had national and seven autonomous regional governments, each with a president representing the Executive, a Legislative Assembly in the form of regional assemblies and an independent public service.

There was also a Senate at the national level and it formed the Upper House that was to safeguard the interests of the regional governments.

Currently the country is back to this form of government but this time under multi-party system.

This, therefore, means there will have to be checks and balances to ensure proper distribution of state functions and powers among and between the three arms of Government; Legislatures, Executive and Judiciary according to the Constitution.

Distribution

Under this Constitution, there are two levels of governments created on equal basis. These are the County and National Governments.

The Constitution further divides Kenya into 47 counties with clearly defined geographical boundaries. The boundaries of each of the counties have been drawn by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as provided for by the Constitution.

Despite the Constitution creating two levels of Government and 47 counties, Kenya is still a unitary state.

The relationship between the two

Kenyans at a political rally. It is now upon elected leaders to deliver on the pledges they made during the campaign period key among them the realisation of devolution. Picture: Reject correspondent must be consultative and cooperative.

Neither the County nor the National Government is senior or superior to the other.

The two governments and institutions established under them are required by the Constitution to ensure participation by citizens in their affairs. The two have democratically elected representatives and autonomous political authority. The elected representatives are for Senate, National Assembly, the President, the County Assembly and the Governor in each of the 47 counties.

In some regions, resources are either unutilised, under-utilised or over-utilised to the benefit the county residents.

Kinuthia wa Mwangi, chairman of Transition Authority says the County government is a long term process that will not kick off instantly and might take three to five years for its full implementation and

realisation.

He notes that the county system of government has brought the government close to the citizens for easy access and developments.

Democracy

“Not all counties will develop and grow at the same pace. You must understand that some regions were ignored by the previous regimes for a long time due to single party dictatorship. I am happy that the Constitution has added up devolution apart from democracy brought by multi-party system in the early 1990s,” notes Kinuthia.

He recalls that before existence of multiparty system, the national governments of the day, served the citizens on the basis of how influential their people (sons and daughters) appointed in Government were loyal. He admits that it led to some regions being left behind in terms of development.

“Counties in such regions will really need to be assisted, not like Nairobi and Central provinces, which have the best schools and hospitals and are already well developed,” Kinuthia observes.

He reiterates: “Let me clarify that these counties are not going to develop immediately. Each county is faced with its own challenges; infrastructure, resources availability, circulation of funds, leadership and management skills,” Kinuthia explains.

He points out that most provincial hospitals are now changing the status of their facilities to be referral hospitals. This is because all referral health facilities will be under the national government funding and not county.

Another competition is on the schools’ status where confusion lies over which schools shall be within county level and those that will be under national government. In addition, what is clear is that all early childhood

education (ECD) schools will be under the county government.

According to Kinuthia, there are a lot of teething problems on how the new structure works but with time, people will come to understand. He outlines three types of counties; rural, urban and city as well as those with both rural and urban characters.

Achieve

“We expect that by 2017 at least three-quarters of the counties shall have achieved their goals and will be fully operational with much assistance from the national Government,” says Kinuthia.

With the passage of the Urban Areas and Cities Act by the Tenth Parliament, the existing local authorities cease to exist. So there is no longer a city, municipal, county or town council. The role played by councillors has been taken over by county ward representatives.

Devolved system of governance could be Kenya’s last chance Continued from page 1 Hassan, a resident of Garissa, Northern Kenya.

“While we all run to Nairobi, no one is left behind to develop the other regions. Even regions such Western Kenya which are endowed with rich natural resources continue to post high poverty indexes,” says Ken Mugo, a government tax analyst.

Mwangangi concurs: “A central government has been the curse of this country and the very reason we have not made a significant dent into problems addressed by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

Devolving both power and resources to the people is expected to enhance the smooth implementation of Vision 2030 by creating mechanisms to respond to problems of in-

efficiency, inequality as well as exclusion.

According to Vision 2030, which is a development blueprint, progressively, the average monthly wage of a Kenyan will rise from the current KSh21,250 ($250) to about KSh318,750 ($3,750).

Importantly, Vision 2030 whose main tenets speak to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) lays out strategies to fight socio-economic problems such as diseases, hunger, illiteracy, poor sanitation and poverty, while also managing natural resources.

The vision reads, in part: “As the country makes progress to middleincome status through these development plans, it is expected to have met its Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) whose deadline is 2015.”

Ndebu notes: “Devolution improves efficiency in allocation and execution of resources, equity, citizen participation and even the empowerment of citizens.”

Corruption

He observes that devolution reduces “horizontal inequalities across regions by not only bringing resources to within the grasp of the community but by also providing the people with an avenue to realise their priorities”.

While the outgoing regime has shown some commitment to improve the living standards of Kenyans by decentralising projects, too much power vested in the executive

under a central government has done little to mitigate tribalism and corruption.

Consequently, the results have been modest since millions of shillings have either gone unaccounted for, or misappropriated.

To address the issue of youth unemployment, the Government devised the Kazi kwa Vijana (Jobs for Youth) initiative “but, millions of shillings have gone unaccounted for, leading the youth to conclude that it’s actually ‘Jobs to the youths, money to the old’,” says Grace Gakii, an activist with Bunge la Wananchi, a local lobby group.

She adds that under the Free Primary Education Fund, another devolved fund “millions allocated to finance access to free primary

education was grossly misappropriated”.

Ndebu concurs: “The Water ministry was last year rocked by a scandal where the Minister in charge was accused of favouring her community in the provision of water.”

Gakii concurs saying that “a centralized system of governance is also too removed from the ordinary people to efficiently scrutinize the spending of public resources”.

It is expected that the dawn of the new devolved government may help make inroads into issues of extreme poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and unemployment, which incidentally, other than for unemployment, were the main problems that the country’s first post-independence government vowed to address.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Mineral and fish exploitation must be accompanied with improved infrastructure in Migori

By OLOO JANAK Even before the elections of Senators, Governors, women’s representatives and ward representatives last month, key stakeholders were busy working around the clock holding consultations, generating information and data on the needs of Migori County.

From September 2010, stakeholders, led by local civil society organisations held a series of discussions at each constituency level; Kuria, Migori, Rongo, Uriri and Nyatike. This was before Kuria was split into East and West, Migori into Suba East and West and Awendo curved from Rongo.

Each constituency had a technical committee which generated key social, economic and political challenges which were consolidated into key documents that were later tabled at County Consultative Forums.

Indeed as the new governor, Zachary Obado settles into office with the country ward representatives and forms the County Assembly, they will have their job cut out for them with a lot of background data and information readily available.

Challenges

According to the Migori County Consultative Forum Reports available at the offices of the Migori Civic Local Affairs Network (CLAN) that initiated the process, a number of challenges were identified; some cross cutting while others were constituency or area specific.

Indeed, Migori is perhaps one of the most cosmopolitan counties in Nyanza just like Kisumu city.

The Asians and Arabs are fewer in number and have traditionally confined themselves to doing business but all the others have had interests that stretch into farming and fishing.

During the consultations, this was identified as a major challenge, especially the relations between the Luo and the minority Kuria who have been vocal and expressed fears of marginalisation.

The smooth functionality of the county government will be dependent on how inclusive the Kuria and other minority communities feel in a County government heavily dominated by the Luo. Other key challenges include insecurity, largely due to cattle rustling among the Kuria clans and between them and their neighbours, the Maa-

sai, Kipsigis, Luo and Suba, which often degenerates into bloody violence, disrupting economic activities and learning in some schools.

Migori also hosts the disputed Migingo Island.

The occupation of the island by Ugandan security officers over the past five years has adversely affected the fishing industry that is a major economic lifeline for the County.

The improvement of road infrastructure has been identified as one of the most urgent and which can unlock the potential of the County.

Loss

Participants at a forum on Migori County development. New companies have since moved in to prospect for gold and other minerals in the area. Picture: Oloo Janak

Maurice Ogur, a leader of the Matoso Fishing Community in Nyatike, says they have been making losses due lack of roads and electricity.

“We have rich fishing grounds in Muhuru, Matoso, Got Kachola, Sori and the Migingo Island areas and the County can raise a lot of revenue and create more jobs if the roads were improved and electricity installed along the beaches,” says Ogur.

The road infrastructure is a priority for all parts of the County as the single tarmac road from Kisii to Tanzania via Rongo, Awendo, Migori and Isebania does not serve the rural parts.

If the roads are done it is expected to improve trade and boost production and marketing of agricultural produce which includes tobacco, sugarcane, maize, bananas, millet, tea, groundnuts, cassava, pineapples and horticulture in the county.

Migori is a leading producer of cane, tobacco, maize and fish in Nyanza and the country, and for a long time has been regarded as Nyanza’s food basket. However, bad roads have negatively affected production and marketing.

The consultative meetings proposed the need to establish fishing and tobacco industries among others to process local products and generate jobs for school leavers, some of whom have turned to criminal activities for survival.

“We have for a long time been producers

of tobacco that is transported to Thika. Under the County Government, it is our desire to introduce value addition to our products by establishing a tobacco leaf processing factory here,” says Chacha Mangiteni, a farmer in Kuria.

The reports indicate that there is potential for large scale tea farming, going by the experiments done over the last 10 years in Awendo and Rongo, which yielded quality tea but which must be transported to factories in Kisii, more than 60 kilometres away for processing.

The potential for dairy farming and improvement of local livestock raring have also been identified as important. Rongo, Awendo, sections of Uriri, Migori and Kuria are suitable for dairy farming.

Nyatike and a few other parts of the County are good for cattle, goat and sheep rearing.

Priorities

There is a government project on goat multiplication at Macalder area of Nyatike, which can be enhanced while at Lichota and Oyani outside Migori town, there are dairy production and training farms that have been helping local farmers for decades.

A key priority is the matter of privatization of Sony Sugar Company, which has been in the plan for a long time.

“We as famers in Migori County must be involved and take charge of the factory when the privatisation process kicks off,” says Richard Were, a cane farmer.

Stakeholder groups are already working on a robust engagement strategy with the new

County administration as soon as the governor and his team settle down to work.

Implementation

“We plan to table all these development plans and strategies to the County government for implementation and we shall continue to closely monitor their performance,” says Charles Kajangara, a former Sony Sugar General Manager who was a key player in the county stakeholder forums.

Trade with neighbouring Tanzania has also been identified as key to the county’s economic development. Through Migori, Kenya also imports a number of products from Tanzania although the balance of trade is in Kenya’s favour.

There are gold deposits in the Nyabisawa, Mikeyi and Masara in Migori Constituency; Macalder and Nyatuoro in Nyatike; Kitere, Kamwango, Kanga and Kakmasia areas of Rongo and Kehancha in Kuria which will also boost the economy.

Macalder was the prime gold mining area during the colonial period but the Italian miners left shortly before independence.

New companies have since moved in to prospect for gold and other minerals in the area. The county government must now put its foot down and demand its share of the mineral resources which Migori County Council had for years left in the hands of foreigners.

Migori County is set for devolution but will only achieve faster economic growth through accountable, transparent leadership and prudent management of resources.

Awareness creation on hygiene leads to drop of cholera cases in Kwale County

By TERYANI MWADZAYA A new initiative to fight cholera in Kwale County is already paying dividends.

According to the Rukia Beduni, outbreaks of the disease have reduced recently after residents of Bowa Village received training in children’s education known as child-to-child.

The project was initiated by the Aga Khan Foundation in 2009 to stop the spread of preventable diseases such as cholera which had taken its toll on the children and affected education standards in the area in the past five years.

Beduni, who is a teacher at Bowa Primary School noted: “Cases of cholera had forced many pupils to stay away from school leading to poor performance I the examinations in the past five years.”

She said that through the new initiative, most pupils’ attention and attitude focused on their hygiene and how to promote a cleaner environment.

“The pupils are now cleaner as they insist that their parents must give them soap to bathe and wash their clothes,” noted Beduni, who is in charge of the child-to-child project at the school.

The pupils are also encouraged to share that knowledge with their parents and relatives to cascade awareness in the neighbourhood. ”Many parents are now aware and practice proper hygiene after the students shared the information imparted with them,” said Beduni.

In addition to the practical lessons, the pupils are encouraged to write poems and recite them at public forums such as the National Music Festival.

So far, that theme has been popular and the school has led in the competition for two years.

However, the teacher is concerned that the villagers still need to be motivated to participate fully in the project working together with donors.

Educate

It is through this subject that the pupils are also educated on first-aid skills, which helps them take care of the injured and or sick at home. ”A clean mind thinks clean ideas,” observed Beduni, adding that her pupils hope that the devolved government would bring services like education closer to the residents.

Fatuma Musa, one of the pupils, said the programme has made her appreciate cleanliness as part of the subjects since most girls from the village shy away from talking about it.

According to Iddi Abdilahi Yusuf, programme coordinator: “The programme was initiated to boost the learning abilities of the pupils. It is through this programme that the students’ education has improved.”

Aga Khan Foundation’s coordinator, Abdilahi Yusuf, said the programme was initiated to stop cholera outbreaks in the villages as the hospitals were far and out of reach to most residents.

The programme used pupils as they have convincing powers to their fellow students and parents at home.

It was started 2009 and has already benefited three schools in Bowa village, Voroni and Mkokoni area making the other schools in the county emulate them.

Yusuf confirms that cases of cholera have reduced in the past few months. “Cholera outbreaks in

Kwale County thrived for four years claiming more than 500 lives and led to low standards of education for the remaining pupils,” he explained.

Today, thanks to the Aga Khan Foundation project, Kwale County is an almost a cholera-free zone.

Residents are now conscious about the quality of drinking water they consume and the villagers understood the origin and how to prevent a cholera outbreak.

The Aga Khan Foundation is working closely with the Kenya School Improvement Project, Madrasa Resource Centre and local government partners such as the District Centre for Early Childhood Education in Kwale, Mombasa and Kilifi counties, the Association for the Physically Disabled in Kenya and the Coalition for the Promotion and Development of the Child in the Coast Region.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

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Renewed hope for entrepreneurs in Siaya

By OMONDI GWENGI Walter Winja believes in being part of the solution and not part of the problem of Siaya County.

Using water drawn from a fishpond, Winja irrigates his mango and avocado trees in Bondo District.

He is one of the local farmers who have embraced horticulture as an alternative to the predominant fishing activity the area residents have depended on for ages.

At one time, fishing looked attractive and lucrative in terms of its returns. However, over the years, the fortunes from the industry have sharply dwindled, forcing residents like Winja to look for alternative sources of survival.

The monopoly of the fishing industry by some foreigners and tycoons from Nairobi has also discouraged and displaced many local fishermen and hawkers from the lucrative business.

Winja brings home the new reality that there is a life beyond the lake. The communities in Siaya County can eke a comfortable living through diversification into horticulture and other farming activities.

Reality

Winja is among the optimistic residents who are now looking up to County’s first Governor, Cornell Rasanga, and his team of ward representatives to translate his dream into reality through the devolved governance structure.

The earnings from horticulture have turned round his life and made him an inspiration to his neighbours and other residents.

“Farming has helped me provide for my family as well as paying school fees for my three children who are all in boarding schools,” says Winja with pride.

The coming into force of the devolved government and the new Kisumu International Airport is a godsend opportunity to him and other farmers as he hopes to increase his production for local consumption and also for to export.

Even though some farmers bring a revolution of sorts in the economic outlook of the fishing community, they are met with a number of setbacks including the lack of equipment to enable them produce in large scale and a market to sell their produce.

“Water is not a problem in this region but how to get it to our farms is the main challenge which the devolved government should urgently address,” says Clement Kodhek, also a farmer.

Standards

Most youth in Siaya County do not access the development funds that would otherwise uplift their economic standards because the revolving funds are issued to registered groups only.

A spot check by the Reject revealed that although the youth are aware of the funds that are disbursed in all constituencies and through financial intermediaries, only a few of them have applied for it.

It has emerged that the requirement that the beneficiaries to the fund must be members of a registered group. This has locked out a majority of the intended recipients, hence frustrating their ambitions.

For the fishermen who are produc-

Women offloading sand at Nambo Beach in Siaya County. Below: A fisherman with his catch. Fish has been the highest revenue producer in Siaya County and the community is now calling upon the county government to establish a fish processing plant in the area. Pictures: By Omondi Gwengi ing the highest revenue for the county, the devolved government must take into consideration the necessary measures that would see the industry not only benefiting the county, but the individual fishermen as well.

Measures

For a long time, the fishing industry has not directly benefited the residents of Siaya and they are now calling upon the new county government to address the issue urgently.

“We need a fish-processing factory here in Siaya if we are to benefit from the proceeds of the trade. This can only be done by the new county government,” says Francis Olang’o, Usenge Beach Management Unit leader.

According to Olang’o, this will not only improve the economy of Siaya but also create employment for youth.

Like the men, women who previously engaged in fish business have also changed tact. Today, the number of women carrying baskets of fish for sale has gone down. Instead, every morning one sees a group of women with babies strapped on their backs headed straight for sand harvesting sites. They stay here until late in the afternoon when, together with the men, eventually they make their way back home for other duties.

For Eunice Adhiambo Omore who has been in the trade for the last four years, this is just like any other business that demands hard work and determination in order to put food on the table and live a decent life.

“I don’t regret joining the trade because as you leave your home and arrive on the site for work, you are sure to get something to take back home,” Adhiambo explains. She adds: “In fish mongering business, you are not guaranteed of fish and you can some-

times go for days without getting any fish to take to the market,” she adds.

According to Consolata Achieng, the work is tedious and they hardly get time to be with their families. She fears that the worst could happen. “We spend a lot of time working at the site and this makes us tired that even meeting our marital responsibilities becomes a challenge,” Achieng laments. She adds: “I am afraid that this could break my marriage but it is the only alternative source of livelihood for our families.”

With the devolved government, the women sand harvesters are hoping that things can be made better. They are calling on the responsible ministry to provide them with the necessary equipment and skills to enable them perform their work as required by the National Sand Harvesting Policy.

“Sometimes we use the wrong method of sand harvesting because we lack the necessary information on how to go about it,” says Achieng. She notes: “We are appealing to the Government and our leaders to help us acquire the necessary equipment and skills for the trade.”

On the other hand, Adhiambo would like the county government to empower them with loans so that they can start up their own businesses.

“This work is risky and it likely to shorten our lives. We would like our leaders to empower women financially so that we can be able to earn a living from a decent business rather than sand harvesting,” reiterates Adhiambo.

This is just one among the prob-

lems that the women face here. “We spend long hours wading in water to offload sand from the boats and this is a great health hazard,” says Adhiambo.

The women also blame fishing the death of their husbands. Several women have been widowed when boats carrying sand have capsized with their husbands on board.

According to the records issued

by Nambo Beach Management Unit, there is always a case of a boat capsizing per week.

“We have been recording at least one boat capsizing every week of which some always lead to death while others are always rescued,” says Alfred Ochieng, secretary Nambo Beach Management Unit.

Create

If sand harvesting is a source of livelihood for people living along the lake shore, the county government should help them in terms of making it a viable activity with minimal risks.

Another issue that the residents

of Siaya would like their governor to address is the tussle over Dominion Farms.

When they danced and made merry to welcome the investment, the people of Siaya knew that with the creation of over 1,000 jobs to the local community and introduction of commercial farming, their living standards would improve. However, eight years down the line, there is not much to show for it.

There has been a tussle between the local community and the investor over the leasehold. The local community accuses the investor of destroying their crops and grabbing their lands among other injustices.

Despite several complaints by the community, little has been done by the local leaders to save the situation.

The people of Siaya are optimistic that the devolved government will help them in solving this issue and make them be part and parcel of the project rather than seeing it as a stumbling block to their economic development.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Improved infrastructure, access to devolved funds a priority for Nyeri

By JOSEPH MUKUBWA While many governors across the country are faced with the daunting task of resolving issues bedevilling their counties, it is not any different for Nyeri County Governor Nderitu Gachagua.

The county’s residents already have a to-do list of the things they would like him to give priority.

They want Gachagua and his team to give priority to job creation, road building and maintenance, supply of water for domestic use and irrigation as well as extension of power supply to all corners of the agriculturally-endowed county.

A cross-section of the 661,156 residents who were interviewed said they are optimistic that if those issues were tackled well by the new county leaders then their lives will be improved.

Nyeri County lies on the slope of Mount Kenya and covers an area of 3,356 square kilometres.

Unemployment

According to Patrick Waithaka, a mechanic in Nyeri town, youth unemployment is a major challenge that has forced many of them to form and join illegal groups like the Mungiki to terrorise and extort funds by soliciting for ‘taxes’ from area residents.

“If the County government can start small-scale industries for us, then we will be home and dry. Many young people who are educated are idling at home for lack of jobs,’ says Waithaka. He adds: “Many young people have also been complaining that the Youth Enterprise Fund is yet to reach them.”

In areas like Kieni West and Kieni East districts, most of the agricultural produce goes to waste in farms during the rainy season since buyers cannot access the area due to bad roads.

John Maina is from Endarasha area where he grows onions, carrots, cabbages and potatoes but is a victim of the bad roods suffering during the rainy season.

Like his neighbours in Kieni, Maina has seen his bumper harvest go to waste because he could not transport them to markets in Nyeri town and Nairobi.

“What we need urgently is subsidised farm inputs in order to be able

to farm and produce more in our farms,” says Njoroge Irungu, a farmer from Kabaru area, in Kieni adding “we also need soft loans to boost our farming”.

Irungu is also challenging his colleagues to add value to their crops so that they can have better prices and higher demand for them.

“We need to start small-scale industries so that we can pack our produce from the villages. We need to sell our potatoes when they have been processed and packed,” reiterates Irungu. He adds: “Milk should be processed and sold as dry milk for longer shelf life.”

Irungu laments that some agricultural farm inputs are too expensive for the average farmer and there is need

A section of Nyeri town. The residents want priority given to job creation, road construction and maintenance, supply of water for domestic use and irrigation as well as extension of power supply in the county. Picture: Joseph Mukubwa for intervention for farmers by the new leaders.

However, according to Duncan Gituanja Kiara, a youth leader, the County’s future as far as job creation is concerned is linked to embracing information technology. He proposes that the County government gives creation of ICT villages a priority for training and job creation.

Ann Njoki, who completed high school four years ago, says unemployment is high in the area and especially for young women like her, many of whom are forced to get married early.

Njoki would like to see the gender principle entrenched in the new Constitution effected in the County so that more women can be employed.

Economy

On his part, Jackson Maina, a 56-year-old businessman in Nyeri town, cites insecurity as a major issue that must be addressed by the new team, saying it has adversely affected the economy of the County.

“We want an enabling environment for the business people and tourism industry. We also want Nyeri to be

“I expect the Governor and his team to assist women access and benefit from the Women Enterprise Fund so that they can start their own income generating projects.”

— Ann Wambui

made a 24-hour town just like other major towns,” Maina says.

A teacher, Edward Mutahi, wants the education standards uplifted by hiring of more teachers and improving facilities in schools and colleges.

Mutahi would like to see youth polytechnics to be revived to enable those who have not gone to universities acquire knowledge and skills.

However, Ann Wambui from Kieni is unhappy with the managers of the Women Enterprise Fund saying the kitty was yet to benefit rural women.

Wambui wants the Governor and his team to assist women access and benefit from the funds so that they can start their own income generating projects.

Mary Njoki, a nonagenarian (90 years old), from Amboni in Kieni West District says funds set aside for the old have not benefited them. She would like to see the county government intervene so that they are empowered with resources to enable the old buy food and medication.

Sugar factory will be ideal for Busia County

By GILBERT OCHIENG List of priorities is something the new county governments will have to deal with especially now that it is the community which has the right to decide on what they think is important for them.

For Busia County residents a sugar factory and a rice mill is top on their list of priorities.

They have also expressed a desire to have the Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and his entire team including Senator Amos Wako to get down to work immediately.

According to Evelyn Sakwa, a rice farmer from Ruambwa sub-location, Bunyala District wants the county government to give priority to construction of a rice processing plant at Magombe.

She also wants Ojaamong, who is the former Member of Parliament for Amagoro to build a fish processing plant at Marenga beach. “this will enable the fish to be processed instantly instead of transporting it other parts

of the country for the same,” says Sakwa.

She says that if properly tapped, the two important resources could boost the economy and bail the community out of poverty.

Other areas of key interests identified include the establishment of a sugar factory at Nasewa Sugar Nuclear Farm at Matayos.

Sakwa says Busia is a cane growing zone and farmers will benefit more by using their own County facilities instead of transporting their cane all the way to Mumias in Kakamega County.

“There is also need to allocate part of the budget kitty towards the revival of stalled cotton ginneries at Mulwanda and Nambale respectively,” says Sylpanus Ochwang, a cotton farmer at Mulwanda.

On her part, Sabina Anyango, a mother of three and a small-scale trader based at Harambee Trading Centre, says the Busia County government should allocate part of its budget to facilitate establishment of adequate points to address persistent water shortage in the entire Bunyala East Location.

“Would you imagine all the ten water points erected by Budalangi CDF in Bunyala East location during the financial year 2008 have not been working,” notes Anyango.

She observes that Ruambwa Health Centre, the only facility which serves Siaya and Bunyala East location and parts of Samia District, lack drugs and medical personnel.

“At times, we are forced to travel all the way to Port Victoria District Hospital, 10 kilometres away for emergency medical attention,” says Anyango.

Favour

She accuses the medical staff of nepotism and corruption saying they favour patients from a neighbouring country who normally dish out money in return for the services.

The residents of Namalo and Nabalaki villages in Bunyala and Samia districts respectively have also petitioned the Busia Governor and his team to take keen interest and promote construction of adequate water points in the two areas.

The residents claim they are forced to wake up at dawn and to queue for the scarce commodity because of the high demand.

“Here at Nabalaki, we have only one borehole that was dug in collaboration with the governments of Kenya and Finland some years back,” says a resident.

“Even the primary school depends wholly on the sole water point for its daily need,” says another resident, adding that at times pupils are forced to miss classes for hours as they go in search of the scarce resource.

Lavine Ajiambo, 15, a Form One student at Dibuoro Secondary School in Siaya County and a resident of Namalo Village says she normally wakes up at 3am to fetch a 20 litre jerri can of water for her ailing mother before going to school. This forces her to forego evening studies so that she can fetch more water.

“I, therefore, expect the newly established Busia County government to move with speed and address this problem as a matter of urgency,” Ajiambo stresses.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

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Residents want soapstone industry upgraded

By BEN OROKO The first Governor of Kisii County, James Ongwae, has his in-tray overflowing with the expectations of the residents.

Topping the list is establishment of a permanent and all weather road network and agrobased industries to tap the potential of bananas, avocado and sugarcane grown in the region.

The region is also endowed with two leading cash crops, coffee and tea, which are a major foreign exchange earner for the area and the country as a whole.

Another expectation among some area residents is the exploitation of the soapstone industry in Tabaka in South Mugirango Constituency, as part of the efforts to create job opportunities for the youth and women entrepreneurs.

However, despite the above, many residents still maintain that the County’s resources have not been fully exploited to their benefit, leading to a rise in poverty and unemployment among the youth.

Ventures

Kennedy Nyarwati, a resident of BomachogeBorabu constituency, cites the dilapidated Mogonga-Kenyenya-Nyakembene-Kamagambo road as an example.

He says it traverses an agriculturally endowed area and if tarmacked could open up and link the region to other areas in the County to enhance agri-business.

“The road network in the County, particularly in Bomachoge and South Mugirango constituencies, remains one of the challenges the Governor has to address,” says Nyarwati.

Decrying exploitation of local banana farmers by middlemen, Nyarwati expects the Governor to lobby for the establishment of co-operative societies through which farmers could fix prices for their produce.

Agnes Mogunde, a resident of South Mugirango, expects the county government to address challenges facing exploitation and mar-

keting of soapstone products at Tabaka, so that the community gets the best prices for their unique sculptures.

Mogunde also expects the Governor to woo foreign and local investors to establish a soapstone, chalk industry in the County, to recycle soapstone waste materials and have them turned into chalk, instead of having the waste exported to a neighbouring country for manufacturing of chalk, thus denying the residents income and employment opportunities.

She would like the county government to come up with policies that would ensure local community members establish co-operative societies to control and manage soapstone affairs collectively, to avert exploitation by middle-men.

Policy

“The soapstone industry in the County has a great potential for local residents but due to lack of policies governing the industry it has been left to middle-men who exploit unsuspecting local sculptors,” notes Mogunde.

His thoughts are echoed by Peninah Abuya, a resident of South Mugirango, who would want the Governor and his team to streamline operations of the soapstone industry and ensure there is a level playing ground for all entrepreneurs, especially women.

Abuya, who is one of the talented women sculptors in the area, says the county government should come up with industrial investment policies that are women-friendly, to encourage more women engage in investment ventures to create wealth and employment opportunities for the youth in the County.

"I was brought up knowing that investment in the soapstone carving industry was a preserve of men but with women's gains in the Constitution I now have a chance to compete with men in the trade,” says Abuya. However, Geoffrey Nyakang'o, an entrepreneur in Kisii town and resident of Kitutu Chache North Constituency, expects the county government to put in place governance structures through

a citizen participation strategic plan for the County.

“The first Governor of our County will succeed or fail depending on the approach of his governance structures. However, I am optimistic that he will succeed if he embraces citizen-participation strategic planning to ensure socio-economic priority projects he will implement come from the people themselves to avoid conflict,” notes Nyakang’o.

Further, Nyakang’o expects the Governor to hire County staff on merit and not on clanbased sharing of public service positions.

These sentiments are echoed

by Cyrus Matoke, a youth in Kisii township, who expects the new Governor to create new job opportunities for the youth and ensure equitable distribution of the public service jobs in the County, with the youth being given priority, if they meet the required qualifications.

Expectations

Matoke expects the Governor to avoid rewarding friends and relatives with public service jobs Soapstone sculptor Peninah Abuya displays in the County, instead he should a carving of a woman taking porridge from a ensure qualified people are given traditional Gusii calabash at Tabaka in Gucha South job opportunities on merit for efDistrict. Picture: Ben Oroko ficient and professional delivery streamline revenue collection in the County to of services to the public in line with ensure all loopholes for revenue loss and misapservice charters. propriation are sealed.

According to Julia Nyaboke, a fruit vendor “I expect the Governor to put in place efin Kisii town, the Governor can transform the ficient revenue collection policies to ensure no County by putting in place an investment hub revenue is lost, and have every cent collected and security measures that will attract more from the public accounted for, to enhance effiinvestors into the County to create job opporcient service delivery to the citizens," observes tunities for formal and informal sector players.

Nyaboke.

Nyaboke would like the County government to

Ganze mothers’ cry as malnutrition bites

By YUSUF AMIN Women in Ganze are a worried lot because of the rising cases of malnutrition among their children.

The constituency, which is in Kilifi County, has been a victim of food insecurity and this is adversely affecting children.

Officials at the Kilifi District Hospital have also raised a red flag saying such cases are on the rise going by the number of children who have been treated and or admitted recently.

The medics are appealing to the county leaders to intervene and help the children get nutritional foods to improve their health and save lives.

A cross section of women interviewed at the hospital say they live in worry of losing their children. They are now asking other stakeholders including non-governmental organisations to intervene and come up with a lasting solution.

Mama Kahaso Kadenge, who is one of the affected mothers points an accusing finger at the hunger situation in Ganze District.

Authority

Kadenge wants the authorities to intervene and save the situation.

“Cases of malnutrition are on the rise and urgent measures must be taken to curb it,” said Kadenge. She added: “The county government needs to set aside funds to combat malnutrition in Ganze District.”

She noted that the district has been rated as the poorest in the country.

However, according to Haro Said, Kilifi District nutritional officer, cases of malnutrition had increased in the district because of the recent strike of nurses in the country.

Promise

Said, however, promised Kilifi County residents that cases of malnutrition will be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“The recent strike by nurses is also to blame for the rising cases of malnutrition but I promise that we have put measures in place to curb the problem,” he said.

Kilifi District Medical Officer of Health, David Mulewa asked the leaders in the county to work together and improve services in the health sector.

Mulewa said that the facility admits many patients from various parts of Kilifi County and there was need for its expansion.

According to Pauline Masha, who is attached to the children’s ward at the hospital, most patients are from poor families who cannot afford two meals a day.

Masha lamented that men had left the burden of looking for food to their wives while the children suffered.

She assured the residents that they will work harder to improve standards at the hospital and assist the patients.

She asked mothers in the district to be careful and detect symptoms of malnutrition early enough so that it could be tackled by nutritional officers at Kilifi District Hospital.

“Mothers should be very alert with their children because malnutrition has been affecting

A mother with her malnutritioned child admitted at Kilifi District Hospital. Cases of malnutrition in Ganze District are increasing due to food scarcity that is looming in Kilifi County. Picture: Yusuf Amin many of them in various parts of Kilifi County,” Masha noted.

One of the mothers, Kahonzi Katana, from Petanguo Village in Ganze District, who had her child admitted at Kilifi District Hospital, asked the county government to come up with strategies of food production at the banks of river Galana and Rare.

Kahonzi said that the rivers continuously released water into the Indian Ocean instead of being used for irrigation of the nearby farms to produce food.

“Enough production of food in the region

will be a means to curbing malnutrition among many children since they will have a well-balanced diet,” said Kahonzi.

She expressed hope that her child would recover soon and be discharged to join the family at home.

Mulewa invited well-wishers to support the hospital by providing foodstuffs to help fight malnutrition.

He reminded the public that everyone had a responsibility in the fight against malnutrition by ensuring that children received a wellbalanced diet.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Plough profits from minerals back to Taveta

By BENSON MWANGA Taita-Taveta residents continue to cry foul over what they term as massive marginalised and neglect by the previously central government.

Against this backdrop, the residents are optimistic that the landscape will improve for the best as the County government takes shape.

Residents in the region, which is arid but endowed with vast natural resources are optimistic that their first Governor John Mtuta Mrutu and his team will give them priority over foreigners who have benefitted the most in the past.

The residents want the Governor, in the predominantly semi-arid region, to go back to the drawing board and take stock of opportunities that lie within their borders.

Food security is one area that they would like Governor Mrutu to focus on. They want him to address the persistent food and water shortages to reduce their dependence on relief supplies from the government and other donors.

One of the major challenges facing the county is the thorny squatter issue. Majority of the locals live as squatters on either private or government land as huge chunks of land are owned by a few influential individuals.

Mzima Springs, a major water source which can be used to transform the lives of the local community through provision of water for domestic and irrigation purposes in the area is only benefiting Mombasa.

Women in their quest for minerals at Sere mining site. Inset: Some of the gems on display at the Sere mines. Area residents say profits from minerals are not ploughed back to them. Pictures: Benson Mwanga

Sustainability

Over 65 per cent of the total land area is occupied by Tsavo National Park, 24 per cent by private farms while residents occupy a paltry 11 per cent, which is dependent on unsustainable rain-fed agriculture.

The region has some of the most famous tourist attraction site in the country mainly Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Park, Mudanda Rock; picturesque Taita Hills Forest which hosts Taita White Eye and Taita Thrush, endangered butterflies including wildlife and plant species, Sarova Taita Hills and Salt Lick Lodges, Lion Bluff, Kilaguni and Ngulia Lodges among others.

Over 80 per cent of mining in the county is carried out in the area but residents remain poor leaving the mines to benefit outsiders who control the lucrative sector.

Records show that much of the gemstones exported from Kenya, such as green garnet and ruby, originate from the county where mining is highly concentrated.

Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu says the area has potential for the establishment of an iron ore melting plant. Apart from iron ore the area also has several other industrial mineral deposits.

“The County government should put in place measures that will provide more opportunities for acquisition of capital and also provide skills to locals on the extraction of minerals,” says Mwadeghu who is also a miner.

Horticultural Production Centre, Coffee and Dairy cooperative societies, which used to assist farmers in marketing their farm produce, collapsed decades ago due to corruption and gross mismanagement.

At the same time, environmental degradation

is another issue that has been compounded by the high influx of thousands of livestock from North Eastern Province.

Wildlife is also a major resource in the county, but it is yet to benefit locals as they have no stake in the management of Tsavo National Park, which is under the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Degradation

There has also been persistent human-wildlife conflict which is partly to blame for food shortages and poverty in the area through massive wildlife crop destruction, injuries and deaths.

The region has a population of 284,000 out of which over 155,000 are dependent on relief supplies.

The poor state of the Voi-Mwatate-Wundanyi and Voi Mwatate-Taveta roads has been a major threat to the tourism industry.

“Rehabilitation of these key roads could boost tourism given that the region has numerous tourist attractions including its rich cultural diversity and the picturesque Taita Hills with their indigenous and forests which are a biodiversity hotspot,” says Haji Mwakio, chairman Taita-Taveta Human Rights Network.

Besides the Tsavo Park, the region also boasts of other exciting tourist attractions like rocks, caves and historical sites.

“Voi-Mwatate-Taveta road is an international road that links Kenya and Tanzania and once rehabilitated it would help create wealth for em-

ployment and also improve regional trade and integration in East and Central African country’s citizens,” says Mwakio.

Taita DC Njenga Miiri concedes that although the region is endowed with enormous resources poverty is still rampant. He says the available resources have not been tapped effectively to benefit the locals.

“The region is third in terms of resources in the country, but this has not been translated into tangible gains that would improve the living standards of the locals,” notes Miiri.

At the same time, he observes that frequent wildlife invasion was also partly to blame for low agricultural production and unrelenting famine in the region, an issue that needs to be addressed if the area is to become self-sufficient in food production.

Miiri concurs that there can be no meaningful development without improved road network. He says the situation would be better if the on-going construction work at the VoiMwatate-Wundanyi road is fast-tracked.

“Once the KSh2.3 billion road is complete, it will be a boon to the local economy as movement of goods and services will improve tremendously,” says Miiri.

Economy

Residents feel that these resources should benefit them as they move towards devolved governments.

“We have nothing to show in the way of infrastructure despite economic opportunities that lie within. Enough resources are generated from the area but little is ploughed back for lo-

cal development,” notes Mwandawiro.

According to the first Women Representative in the County Joyce Wanjala Lay: “More and more investors can come to do business here if only the Government can improve the state of roads that are currently in a bad state.”

On his part, Richard Mwangeka says as “we move to embrace the devolved governments, historical land injustices, development imbalance among other pressing issues need to be addressed”.

“We are optimistic and buoyed by the prospects of being able to chart our own development agenda once counties become operational,” says Mwangeka.

According to Gabriel Nyambu, chairman Taita Council of Elders and Nahashon Mkunde spokesman of the Taveta Council of Elders, the devolved government is a panacea to the numerous challenges the local community has been facing over the years.

“We are blaming the local community’s problems on poor leadership and we hope this will change for the better following the introduction of county governments,” says Mzee Nyambu.

He adds: “Past leaders have failed to effectively champion for the interest of the local community.

The leaders have failed to take former governments to task to champion development.”

The residents says the KSh2.34 billion allocated to the county by Commission on Revenue Allocation was small and would not meet demands of the local community.

However, the Governor was optimistic saying: “We will find other ways of raising revenue to supplement the government allocation.”

Murang’a farmers want a boost in the industry

By RYAN MATHENGE Farmers in Murang’a County want their governor, Mwangi wa Iria, to put cash crops at the top on priority in-tray.

The farmers believe middlemen who have been exploiting them over the years are the problem that must be tackled by the county government.

They expect the county government to ensure problems in the coffee and tea sub-sectors are addressed for them to maximise their profits.

They also want the county government to establish irrigation projects in the lower regions that will see the area turned into a food basket.

Livestock farmers also want the county government to support establishment of plants that will produce animal feeds. They say this will increase

milk production.

According to Ephantus Kimwe from Maragua, the establishment of an animal feed manufacturing plant will save millions of shillings which farmers lose annually to middlemen and traders who import the goods.“The cost of animal feed has been prohibitive and some of the feeds are of poor quality but farmers have no option due to lack of finances,” Kimwe noted.

Women, on the other hand, want the county government to establish more health centres and upgrade existing ones. The women appealed to the governor to ensure that health centres are well staffed, equipped and provided with enough drugs.

According to Mary Mwangi, from Gikindu Location, the governor and his team should account for the pledges made in the pre-election period.

“Murang’a County has 68 health facilities which are inadequate for the over one million population spread across the seven constituencies,” said Mwangi.

A leader in her own right, Mwangi noted that the leaders must give education top priority and urgently address the declining standards in national examinations.

“Over the years the region has been doing badly especially in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), a trend that must be changed by stakeholders,” said Mwangi, a retired teacher.

Not to be left out are people with disabilities who want the county government to ensure issues affecting them are addressed.

According to Kennedy Mungai Wanguma, many of them cannot afford specialized treatment

and, therefore, need the government to cater for their interests.

They want the county government to ensure that all institutions have the capacity to handle issues raised by persons living with disabilities.

“We are people who require a lot of facilitation from the county government,” said Mungai.

On the other hand, the youth are pleading for an environment for wealth creation where commercial banks will lower interests on loans.

Francis Mwangi, a youth leader, said many of his peers have been locked out of business because of the ever increasing interest rates. ”Many want to apply for loans from the commercial banks as the Youth Enterprise Fund has limited facilitation and we want to engage in big business venture,” noted Mwangi.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

11

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

Banditry attacks a daunting security headache in Kitui

By NZINGA MUASYA

Voi residents want emergency response centres established

By ALBERT MUTUA Hundreds of residents of Sofia Bona in Taita Taveta County are still counting their losses following the heavy rains.

Over 40 houses in the village in Voi District were marooned and destroyed by the floods flowing down the hills of Voi. The heavy rains brought down part of the hill destroying many houses and roads along the way leading to a major traffic snarl up transport sector.

No serious injuries were reported as most residents fled to safer grounds.

Later, the residents of Sofia with assistance of their neighbours joined hands to drain out water from their houses and to also salvage electronics, beddings and foodstuffs.

Sofia Bona is at the low land of Voi District which places it at risk of floods to occur during heavy rains.

Due to its location, Voi has been experiencing floods when heavy rain showers especially at the mountains.

Perennial water shortage, famine, insecurity and poor infrastructure are Kitui County residents’ waking nightmare.

However, residents of the county, a semi-arid region in Eastern province, are now optimistic that their first governor Dr Julius Malombe and his team will move with speed and address the myriad problems he had promised to address during the first 100 days of his five-year tenure.

Indeed, James Kivunzi, a newspaper vendor in Mwingi town, says: “Water and food security should be the top priorities for the governor and his team.

All the other problems are compounded by lack of water and adequate food.” He poses: “If there is enough water in most parts of the county, then food insecurity can reduce substantially?”

He advises the county government to establish earth dams along the many seasonal rivers dotting the region to harvest water for domestic and agricultural use.

“The greater area of Mwingi has many large seasonal rivers whose water goes to waste every year. It should be properly harnessed for use,” Kivunzi says.

His sentiments are echoed by Lena Mutunga, a businesswoman in Kitui town, who says provision of water will see the locals engage in small scale irrigation farming and reduce dependency on unreliable rains and relief food.

“Water is a major problem in our county. The County government should ensure there are boreholes and dams in every location. This way people’s lives will change for the better,” observes Mutunga.

Manage

Develop

She says the standard of roads in the area would have to be improved saying most of them have been in a sorry state since time immemorial.

Mutunga would also want to see health sector given attention saying that hospitals lack requisite facilities, personnel and drugs.

“It is disheartening to see people die of preventable and treatable diseases due to lack of drugs and Ngwenze King’ole, a mother of seven, breast feeding her baby at Ililuni Forest after health personnel,” says Mutunga. She notes: “There fleeing her home following bandit attacks. She wants security matters addressed by is need to upgrade existing hospitals and subsidise fees to cater for the poor as well as establish one rethe new county government. Pictures: Nzinga Muasya ferral hospital.”

Chris Mbithuka, 26, an elected youth leader fleeing a bandit attack late last year in which two Mutunga also notes that the mineral wealth in the county is yet to be fully exploited saying it says: “The County government should be able to people were killed and houses torched.

“All we need is security. Without security we canwould boost the economy, create jobs and improve create job opportunities and shared them fairly. people’s standards of living. The county boasts of We do not want a situation whereby unskilled la- not go back to our homes. When we ran away the an estimated 400,000 million metric tonnes of coal bour is sourced from outside yet local unemployed food crops in our farms were destroyed by the herdfound in Mui basin valued at KSh3.4 trillion as well youth can do the jobs,” Mbithuka says. He adds: ers and their livestock. It is a perennial life of misery, “We should be fully involved as future leaders of something must be done,” says the mother of seven. as huge deposits of iron ore in Ikutha.

Her sentiments are echoed by Nzoki Mwanza, Other minerals in the county are limestone in this county.” a 76-year old woman who says the suffering visMutomo and Kanziku as well as gypsum and preited upon them by the bandits is immeasurable. cious stones. Kivunzi says the County Governor and However, most residents of Malalani and Endau She pleads with the County government to come to his team should look for experts to educate the locals on the mineral deposits found in their areas and locations in Mutito District are worried because of their rescue.

“After what I saw I cannot go back home. It is how these could benefit them. He says a substantial insecurity. For a long time the residents have been percentage of the mineral wealth should be chan- victims of armed raids by Somali bandits from the better in the forest where we are sure of our safety. neighbouring Tana River County who cross the bor- We fear for our lives,” she says. nelled back to the residents.

According to Kamuti Musili, chairman MalaAccording to Rev. Titus Kyembeni, head pastor der in search of water and pasture for their livestock.

The result is a vicious conflict whereby some of lani community policing, more police officers are at Victory House International Ministries, good inthe locals lose their lives as others flee their homes needed to patrol the porous border and bolster frastructure is crucial for the economy of County. security.

Kyembeni says resources and efforts should to seek refuge in forests.

Ngwenze King’ole, from Malalani, would want “Occasionally people abandon their homes and be channelled towards construction of the KibweziMutomo-Kitui-Mwingi road, adding that the tar- to see improved security for what she calls injus- daily activities to live in the bush for fear of attacks. macking of the 300 kilometre stretch would open tice visited upon them by the herders. She is among There is need to establish police posts in this area,” 200 families who are camping at Ililuni Forest after says Musili noting that education has been adverseup Kitui County for business. ly affected because most teachers Rodah Musili, a communication and pupils are forced to withdraw expert from Mutomo, concurs saying from school for fear of their lives travelling within the County, espeand safety. cially during rainy seasons is always However, Kitui County Depa big challenge. uty Governor Peninah Malonza Both Kyembeni and Mutunga assures the residents that the note that education standards in KiCounty government was equal to tui County have deteriorated over the task and will give their contime and blame this on poor staffing cerns priority. and inadequate facilities.

Malonza says they will give seOn their part, the youth are opticurity paramount importance in mistic that the County government their first 100-days in office; the will create jobs as pledged by the — Peninah Malonza, Kitui County second would be to improve youth various coalition partners during the Deputy Governor and women welfare issues. gruelling campaign period.

Security

“We will give security paramount importance in the first 100-days in office and improve the welfare of youth and women.”

Voi District Officer One, Isaac Mujesya, asked the affected residents to construct houses away from the water ways so as to avoid losses during rainy season.

However, the District Disaster Management committee led by the District Commissioner had a difficult time calming down Mkamburi Nyambu, who wept and asked: “Where have you been all this time?

We have never seen you visiting this area while you all know that Voi has been affected by rains from the hills?

We do not recognise you as a disaster committee in Voi.” The management committee climbed up the hill to determine the possible cause of the large amount of water flowing from the hills.

Cause

Meanwhile, Kaloleni Ward Representative, Omar Ahmed, has blamed the Kenya Wildlife Services for causing the problem by creating ways directing water to homes instead of to the open field leading to the destruction of homes and crops.

“This problem has never been like this before even during long rains but things have now changed after the Kenya Wildlife Services made some trenches which direct the water from the hills to the residents’ home,” noted Ahmed. He added: “The KWS should divert the water to the park, which they can use for their own benefit and not directing it to the people’s homes.”

However, KWS representative Samuel Rukaria, denied that the organisation was the cause of the heavy water flowing from the park to homes.

The County representative lamented that they have no rescue centre that can respond to an emergency, nor a fire station in Voi, Mwatate or Wundanyi in case of a fire incident.

Ahmed said the residents expect the county government to ensure there that emergency services and rescue centres are setup up there urgently.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Human-wildlife conflict must cease in Laikipia

By PAUL MWANIKI Residents of Laikipia County, located along the slopes of Mount Kenya, are optimistic that Governor Joshua Irungu and his team will hit the ground running and improve their livelihoods.

The County with a population of over 400,000 is characterised as an arid and semi-arid region but with the highest number of freely roaming wild animals. This then makes human-animal conflict and cattle rustling among the major challenges facing Laikipia residents. It has been the cry of the farmers and pastoralists.

Conflict

The problem of human-wildlife conflict has been the talk of the County and barely a week passes without reported cases of elephants invading people’s farms and homesteads destroying property and crops.

Laikipia is unique as the only place where elephants have been given peoples’ names that, in one way or another, caused tribulation to the residents.

Recently an elephant named ‘John Killer’ was killed for constantly trampling on people.

According to Waweru Mumbiko, a farmer at Ngobit in Laikipia Central, the Governor and his team must find a lasting solution to their biggest problem.

He says that though Laikipia has the majority of private ranches occupying over 65 per cent of its land, the owners who are the beneficiaries of revenue from tourist viewing the wild animals through tourism, have done little to assist farmers.

“We want the Governor to work with Kenya Wildlife Services and the private ranchers so that a lasting solution can be reached in confining the

animals, and in return they can be of benefit to every resident through creation of jobs and income generation,” says Mumbiko.

Solution

He notes that Kirimon Game Ranch in Laikipia North could be made a reality by the County government where all the animals which cause trouble outside the ranches can be relocated to.

Previous leaders in the local authority blamed lack of funds for their failure to act.

However, human-animal conflict is not the only challenge facing the new County government.

Alice Nduta, a businesswoman in Nanyuki, hopes that the county government will be at the forefront in easing the transport menace in the rural areas.

She notes that most feeder roads linking major towns and the main roads are in a pathetic state.

“Most of these roads were done using murram and when it rains they are left like valleys. The drainage are poorly done and this makes the roads impassable most of the time,” says Nduta.

She adds: “We would like to see more permanent roads built that can last for a long period which can only be done if those contracted are monitored carefully as they deliver.”

Nduta is optimistic that construction of more secondary schools will be of benefit to the County. She says every primary school should have a secondary school of its own.

While the issue of infrastructure is a major problem, issues of child abuse abound in the County.

According to James Kariuki, a social worker with a non-governmental organisation says the Children’s Act should be enforced.

A tamed elephant at Ol Jorgi Ranch in Laikipia North. The elephants are used in educating school children and community groups on the importance of wildlife in the society. Pictures: Paul Mwaniki Kariuki notes that Laikipia has experienced many cases of child abuse which have been reported to the local administration but no action has be taken.

“Cases of early marriage, child rape, and female genital mutilation (FGM) among others are very common in the region but little has been done by the government to solve this problem,” observes Kariuki adding “we need the County government to fully implement the Children’s Act locally”.

Opportunity

Residents are also curious on how the Governor will tackle the issue of insecurity orchestrated by rampant cattle rustling, banditry and proliferation of small arms from neighbouring

Samburu and Isiolo counties.

Farmers would like the new leader to increase the water levels of Laikipia’s major rivers for purposes of promoting irrigation in the area.

Indeed, Governor Joshua Irungu, has his work cut out for him and he will have to promote the establishment of cottage and large scale industries in the scenic County on the slopes of Mount Kenya. The County is endowed with large scale flower farms and ranches that could create many jobs and boost the economy.

There could be value addition to crops produced in the region before they are sold. This is something that the Governor promised the residents during his campaigns and they are eager to see it roll.

Pastoralists are not left behind in the long run towards improving their livelihood in the county which for many years has produced the best beef locally and nationally.

The problem of perennial animal diseases are things they want eradicated so that the region can be declared a disease free zone to empower them to have access to international markets for their animals.

According to John Legei, a pastoralist at Kimugandura, the region has the ability to export cattle to the Middle East and Mauritius just like the local ranchers whose farms are disease free.

Legei urged for convening of a consultative meeting with the local leaders to discuss the way forward on this issue.

Tea hawking a major set-back in Nyamira

By BEN OROKO Green tea leaf hawking by small-holder tea growers contracted to Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is threatening the future of the industry in Nyamira County.

A number of stakeholders from the County have raised a red flag over the matter, warning that if the trend continues unchecked, companies in the area will be subjected to working below their processing capacities, leading to loss of revenue and massive lay-offs.

According to Mary Orwenyo, a Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) director at Sanganyi Tea Factory Company, has asked small-holder tea growers contracted to the tea firms in the region to desist from the habit.

Register

Orwenyo noted that they were threatening operations of companies. “If they continue delivering their green leaf tea to multi-national companies under the guise of ‘soko huru (liberalised market economy)’, they will be see loss of jobs and reliable in-

come among the local residents,” she noted.

Speaking to the Reject in Nyamira, Orwenyo who is also a prominent farmer in the area, reminded farmers that delivering their green leaf tea to the factories where they were registered as members and shareholders had several benefits accruing from the same, including guaranteeing them end year tea bonus payments which were not offered by the multi-national tea buying companies.

“As an experienced tea farmer and KTDA official, I am reminding smallholder tea growers from Nyamira County and the larger Gusii region to weigh the net benefits between delivering their green leaf tea to their factories, where they are registered as growers, and the multi-national tea companies where they have no formal tea business agreements,” said Orwenyo, adding “this will help them make the right decisions concerning their investment in the tea sub-sector”.

The official’s sentiments came amid revelations by various KTDA-run tea factories indicating that some of them

were experiencing low green leaf tea processing capacity, threatening their operations and job security of their employees.

Warning

“Low crop intake has been attributed to green leaf tea hawking among the companies’ registered small-holder tea growers, denying the factories enough green leaf tea to process,” she noted.

Her sentiments were supported by Willis Odhiambo, KTDA regional manager who warned that if green leaf tea hawking A small-holder tea farmer at her farm in Nyamira County. Tea farmers in the will not be checked, the area area are being urged to deliver their tea to factories where they are registered will be faced with increased as growers to avoid delayed payments. Picture: Ben Oroko poverty and crime as mathe liberalisation of the tea industry, were assured of value addition to the jority of the residents who depend on the crop will have been he cautioned small-holder tea grow- produce as opposed to multi-national exploited by multi-nationals through ers against over-dependence on quick tea buying companies whose aim was short-term as all they wanted was to unreliable payments for their tea pro- money from tea hawking.

He said it is through KTDA-run buy green tea leaf from farmers and duce.

Although Odhiambo welcomed factories that small-holder tea growers the contract ended there.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

13

Farmers want a fertiliser factory set up in Uasin Gishu

By ROBERT WANJALA

Residents of Uasin Gishu County, the breadbasket of the country, want their first Governor, Jackson Mandago, to give the building of a fertilizer factory the first priority.

William Koech, who is a farmer, says the new crop of leadership should urgently plan to establish the factory in the County as they had promised during campaigns.

“We also want leaders to move with speed to come up with ways that would enhance value addition to our farm produce,” says Koech.

Residents also want agriculture prioritised: “This County is endowed with good soil and climatic condition for agriculture. However, without proper mechanisms to take full advantage and exploit the potential in agriculture, issues like unemployment will remain unsolved,” says William Chumo, also a farmer.

Needs

Chumo wants the governor to capitalise on the agricultural potential of the county and use it to create jobs and boost the economy of the County.

Chumo says civic education should be scaled up to facilitate public participation to ensure accountability among the leaders. He would like to see Governor Jackson Mandago and his team exercise an open door policy and remain accessible to the residents.

“We want the governor to be accessible at all times. Let him organise regular forums at the grassroots levels to listen to the pressing needs of the electorate,” says Chumo.

The residents’ expectations are as high as they are varied. “I voted because I was told devolution will bring resources and government services closer to people. As a hawker, top on my list is to see the new governor and his team creates a friendly and enabling environment to allow people like us to operate without harassment and intimidations by County askaris (guards),” says Peter Owino, a hawker in Eldoret.

“We have had challenges doing business in the past. We want to be given space and ample time to do business, like everyone else, to contribute to the revenue generation to support development of our County,” Owino reiterates.

Roselyn Mukhwana, a vegetable vender wants the new team to prioritise the building and expansion of the traders market to create jobs and boost their income.

Mukhwana says: “Construction of more traders’ markets and stalls will help us carry out our businesses in a strategic place where our customers

can always find us instead of jamming the streets in search of daily livelihood for our families.”

Among services under County governments include delivery of county health services, pre-primary education, agriculture, county transport, cultural activities and trade developments.

Although experts have expressed confidence that devolution would correct historical injustices that had been partly entrenched by a highly centralised government, managing inflated expectations by citizens will be an immediate challenge.

Expectations

“Kenyans have high expectations as they break away from a centralised system of government to a new devolved system,” says Kipchumba Murkomen, a devolution expert and Senator for Elgeyo Marakwet County.

“The greatest concern we have is that civic education for various posts, functions and offices is seriously wanting. Citizens have very high expectations yet they have very little knowledge on the functions and how the county government operates,” Murkomen said.

Phanice Njeri, a trader in North Rift region concurs saying that lack of knowledge on county governments will deny them an opportunity to demand their constitutional rights.

However, Njeri says: “I have many expectations even though I do not understand the different roles and functions played by the county government.

Topping her list of pressing needs is access to quality education for her three daughters. “The free primary education has been helpful but it was frustrated by shortage of teachers and enough classrooms in order to provide quality education,” she says.

However, on the other hand, Janice Korir wants health facilities in the County to be better equipped.

Korir says: “I want to see the governor and his team prioritise the building and equipping of more health facilities to enhance accessibility of health by the public.”

However, James Katundu, a businessman in Eldoret wants security enhanced to allow him run his business without any fear.

Katundu also wants roads that lead to various centres within the region upgraded to facilitate quick movements of people, goods and ser-

Traders sorting tomatoes at Eldoret market. Below: Monica Chumba admires her maize plantation. Famers want the new government to establish processing plants for value addition.

Pictures: Robert Wanjala vices to spur economic developments in the County.

But Isaya Kosgey and Daniel Kirwa, a driver and salesman respectively, say security and roads maintenance should be a priority to boost business and agricultural production in the county.

Other demands by the residents are the diversity when making any

appointments to guarantee national unity.

“We can only compete with the rest of the 46 Counties if we remain alive to the fact that diversity is a key pillar for development. People have high expectations and some think it will be automatic for employment because they support certain candidates,” says Moses Busienei.

Governor gives sports priority in his agenda for Kisii youth

By BEN OROKO Though Gusiiland was one of the pioneers in sports in the country, especially in athletics, the region continues performing dismally in the world of sports with majority of talent going to waste due to failure by the local leadership to tap on the existing sports abilities among the youth.

The worrying trend has prompted the Kisii County Governor James Ongwae to swiftly move in to reverse

the trend through revamping of the sports field, as part of his efforts to exploit the potential of sports talent among the youth.

Facilitation

Speaking during his swearing in ceremony at the Gusii Stadium, Ongwae promised to improve its status to international standards and ensure there were enough sports facilities in the County to facilitate talented young people.

“As a community we have a rea-

son to worry because of our performance in sports has gone down yet the region was a pioneer after producing the first Kenyan to win the country a first world medal,” said Ongwae.

He noted that Naphtali Temu won Kenya the first medal during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.

He regretted that there was untapped sports talent in villages due to lack of organised sports administration and management structures that

could identify and develop such talents for the socio-economic welfare of the society.

Youths

Expressing concern that sports standards in Kisii County had gone down, Ongwae stressed commitment to revamp performance in the region through setting up of sports clubs and sponsorship of various activities for the youth.

He challenged the youth in the area to mobilise themselves into

various sports clubs for them to be assisted in discovering and exploiting their talent.

Ongwae observed that establishment of sports clubs in all the constituencies in the County will not only facilitate young people to discover their sports talent but will also add value to sports administration and management practices.

Ongwae noted: “Sports clubs will facilitate identification of untapped talent among many young people.”

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Revival of collapsed industries form great expectations in Nakuru

By GLADYS MORAA As the dust settles after election of governors and speakers to county assemblies, residents of Nakuru County have great expectations of their Governor, Kinuthia Mbugua and the 55 elected county ward representatives.

These expectations include how they will handle peace-building in a county that has been divided along ethnic lines. Land remains a burning question that they must immediately address. Education standard in Nakuru County have dropped and the residents want to see these improved.

There is also the question of insecurity as well as the high unemployment.

The cosmopolitan county with a population of 1.6 million people covers eleven constituencies which include Molo, Njoro, Naivasha, Gilgil, Kuresoi South, Kuresoi North, Subukia, Rongai, Bahati, Nakuru Town West, Nakuru Town East.

Nakuru County has major tourist attractions and is home to Lake Nakuru National Park, Menengai Crater, Hell’s Gate, Lake Naivasha, Lake Elementaita famed for glimmering flamingoes, Hyrax Hill and the Longonot Crater.

The County is well endowed with natural resources like geothermal energy, the only site in the world that harbours the resource, forests, fresh and salt water lakes, a variety of wildlife, minerals like iron ore and pasture land.

Various manufacturing and agricultural industries have also been established in various parts of the County.

“Considering that all communities live in this county and the protracted inter-ethnic strife we had have

had, the members of County Assembly must work hard to encourage appreciation and accommodation of each other’s diversities to promote peaceful coexistence,” says Bishop Daniel Gitau, coordinator Nakuru Church Elders Council.

Gitau is appealing to the County Assembly to focus on and address divisive issues revolving around land ownership and resettlement of squatters and victims of the 2008-2009 post-election violence.

Emerging issues

“Land is a major issue in this County. There are many conflicting land issues especially in Kuresoi North and South, Naivasha and Rongai. The County Ward representatives being the closest leaders to the people, must be able to either coordinate with National Assembly in solving them or pass legislations that will tackle the problems,” notes Gitau.

However, Alice Jerotich, a resident of Molo would like to see priority given to the revival of the potato plant which collapsed six years ago.

“The collapse of the potato plant greatly affected potato farming in this constituency.

During its days of operation, we never lacked adequate certified seeds unlike now,” says Jerotich.

However, she would like the Governor and his team to give infrastructural development and expansion first priority. She notes the pathetic state of roads leading to Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South constituencies from Nakuru town and would like to see them repaired.

An overview of Nakuru town. Revival and establishment of agricultural and manufacturing industries to create more job opportunities is key to the development of the County. Pictures: Gladys Moraa Other concerns Jerotich raises are the establishment of more maternal hospitals to assist majority of rural women who are unable to enjoy safe and skilled health care services in a clean environment.

However, for Maina Kamau, a businessman in Nakuru town, security is a major concern.

“We want to be assured of the security of our property and ourselves.

We want a 24-hour working environment. The County Assembly should consider putting in place CCTV security systems in all corners of this town,” says Kamau.

For Mary Khaemba, accessibility to clean tap water should be addressed within 100 days by the county leaders.

Khaemba notes that the county government should provide piped treated water to each and every homestead across the county.

“I am happy that even elected Women’s Representative, Mary Mbu-

gua, prioritised provision of water to the residents. In places like Rongai, Molo, Naivasha, Subukia, Bahati and Njoro, women walk for long distances only to fetch the polluted water,” observes Khaemba who also trains women on harvesting rain water.

She notes the need for the county leadership to establish favourable policies geared towards boosting women’s economic empowerment.

“We want women to be trained on starting income generating projects as well as how to acquire loans and manage their respective businesses,” she says.

Revival and establishment of agricultural and manufacturing industries to create more job opportunities is also another concern raised by the residents.

“We used to have a beer manufacturing factory in Njoro, a hides and skins factory in Molo and bicycle manufacturing factory in Subukia in the 1980s but due to poor management

they all collapsed,” says Kemunche Masese. “If the county government refocuses their energies in reviving and expanding them, we will have more job opportunities.”

Masese, who is also an activist in good governance and democracy, pointed out the need for the county government to ensure equitable distribution of resources to enhance uniform development.

“Proper planning to ensure the matatu (mini bus) and bodaboda (motorbike taxis) operators should have designated places from which to operate and this would greatly decongest the town and provide an easy environment for business activities.”

— Simon ole Nasieku,

Efficiency

Simon ole Nasieku, national chairperson of Kenya National Association of the Vendors and Informal Traders, wants the county government to come up with efficient physical planning strategies to decongest the town and hence provide ample space for both the small and medium sized entrepreneurs.

“A modern market that can accommodate small micro enterprises (SMEs) is most welcome,” says Nasieku. He adds: “Proper planning to ensure the matatu (mini bus) and boda-boda (motorbike taxis) operators should have designated places from which to operate and this would greatly decongest the town and provide an easy environment for business activities.”

According to Joseph Miruka, a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, a bursary fund should be set up at the County level to address the plight of the thousands of bright and needy students in the area.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

CHALLENGES of COUNTY GOVERNMENTS U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h

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Perennial flooding a matter of urgency for Narok

By MUNENE MAINA & KABIA MATEGA Narok is one of the richest counties in the country but the residents have little to show for it.

The residents are now looking up to their Governor, Samwel Kuntai and his deputy, Evelyn Chepkurui to come to their rescue.

Many of them are still living in abject poverty and practicing cultural practices that impede development despite the County being endowed agriculturally. The County is also home to the world famous Masai Mara National Game Reserve, that hosts the seventh wonder of the world — the wildebeest migration.

In the just concluded elections one Member of Parliament retained his seat in Narok County, while three ward representatives managed to successfully contest for their seats out of 30 county wards.

In a County where politics is largely influenced by clans and land among other factors, voters chose to replace the entire crop of the old guards with new blood.

Narok residents now hope that the new leaders will steer the County to attain the much needed development.

Leadership

Top on the list of their expectations is that the poor road network will be dealt with immediately. The residents note lack of enough schools and health facilities, unemployment, human-wildlife conflict and retrogressive cultural practices. They also note that poor drainage system in major trading centres including Narok town are the cause of frequent flooding leading to loss of lives and damage to property.

The past leadership has been blamed for using the county’s wealth to benefit them at the expense of development in the area. Residents hope the new leadership will end corruption and establish proper management of the county’s revenue for their benefit.

In 2010 Narok had the highest percentage of Kenyans who paid bribes at 65.98 per cent followed by Kisii, Homa Bay, Garrisa and Nyamira according to a report; National Corruption Perception Survey carried out by Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC).

David Mpatiany, chairman of Narok Wheat Farmers Association is optimistic that the new county government will bring about development given that the new leadership consists of young professionals and there are funds allocated to the County.

Address

Women leaders who include Mary Simat and Lucy Sadera are asking the County Governor to give top priority to the perennial flooding problem, particularly in Narok town.

They also want the new team to address the human-wildlife conflicts in the world famous Masai Mara National reserve, as a long term issue.

“These are problems that should be solved once and for all were the leadership given more focus on them,” explains Sadera.

Mpatiany, who at one time chaired

Narok Town Central Business Association, says most trading centres in the county are poorly planned and lack vital social amenities.

“All trading centres are poorly planned especially Narok town, which is the County headquarters. It is congested, lacks proper sewerage system and there is no clean water for residents despite often being affected by floods almost every year,” says Dr David Sankok, Chairman of Narok Town Business Community.

According to Karaya Ngare, proprietor Kanga Complex Building, the business community expects better service delivery by the new crop of leaders as per their election pledges to the residents.

Agricultural and livestock farmers say they have been frustrated by the poor state of rural roads leading to their farms and want the new team led by the Governor to give infrastructural development first priority.

Resources

Majority of farmers are still stuck to the old methods of farming that yields little due to lack of technical advice from field extension agricultural officers.

Narok is home to the renowned Masai Mara Game Reserve that attracts millions of tourist annually.

The recently introduced electronic ticketing system within the gates of the game reserve has been a subject of discussion with some feeling that the method which is said to have helped curb corruption benefited a few while denying the youth jobs.

“The contract should be reviewed as it has not benefited the

A section of the flooded Narok town that was rendered a no go zone when floods submerged some vehicles and buildings courtesy of the poor drainage system. Below: Pupils from St Mary Girls Primary School. During the floods, learning in most schools is disrupted.

Pictures: Kabia Matega and Munene Maina locals. With the new County government in place we hope all will be well,” says Stephen Kishoyian, chairman Narok County Youth Coalition for Change.

Kishoyian says the leadership should create more job opportunities for youth and help empower them as they have been sidelined in the past.

He notes that workers in the defunct Narok County Council were not employed on the basis of merit

and this denied many qualified youth job opportunities.

“We hope that professionalism will guide the hiring of workers,” says Kishoyian.

Gender

Sadera, who is the chairperson Maendeleo ya Wanawake in Narok North and Narok South districts says that with two women at the helm of leadership, County Women Representative Soipan Tuya and Deputy

Governor, women will be able to establish their place in the society.

Women in the county are not involved in leadership and development due to retrogressive cultural practices that are still rampant in the area.

According to Narok North education office, the rate of girl-child drop out from school stands at 40 per cent due to female genital mutilation (FGM) as well as early and forced marriages.

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ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Election of Kenyatta, Ruto not a guarantee to peace in the Rift Valley

By REJECT REPORTER The election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president and his running mate William Ruto as Deputy-president has been hailed as proof that ethnic tensions have been resolved.

After all, Kenyatta is Kikuyu while Ruto is from the Kalenjin, communities that were on opposing sides in the bloodshed that followed the presidential election in December 2007.

However, in the northern Rift Valley region, that was the focus of much of the violence, memories of KikuyuKalenjin clashes are still fresh, and the issues that divided communities then are still present.

Ruto was part of the Orange Democratic Movement, (ODM), which disputed the defeat of Raila Odinga in the 2007 presidential election. Kenyatta was a Member of Parliament having won through KANU, the main party that had been leading the country since independence but backed Mwai Kibaki for presidency. The latter was vying with the Party of National Unity (PNU), which claimed victory.

During the violence, the clashes that pitted PNU and ODM supporters quickly assumed an ethnic dimension, with Kikuyus broadly supportive of Kibaki and the Kalenjins, Luos and others backing Odinga. More than 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced in the fighting, before a power-sharing deal was reached in which Kibaki remained president but Odinga became prime minister.

However, tensions remained high in the Rift Valley until this year when Kenyans went to the ballot box again. Despite their election victory, Kenyatta and Ruto, together with a third suspect, Joshua arap Sang, are due to go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague to face charges of orchestrating the bloodshed.

The political alliance that Kenyatta and Ruto formed last year proved a successful strategy, winning them large numbers of votes from both Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley.

For some former protagonists, the election draws a line under past differences. In their view, it also makes the ICC process seem redundant.

“We fought in the 2007 General Election and have since moved on peacefully,” says Rachael Korir, from Burnt Forest in Eldoret East, part of the Rift Valley. She adds: “We Kalenjin and our Kikuyu brothers and sisters are peacefully with one another now and therefore the ICC should give way to allow us to address our differences internally.”

Wounds

Her sentiments are echoed by John Kamau, from Ruto’s home town of Turbo, near Eldoret who says: “The message [of the elections] was simple — Kenyans want to forget what happened and move on. Kenyatta and Ruto should be given time to discharge their services to Kenyans.”

However, not everyone in the region is so sure that old wounds will be healed so easily.

According to one businessman in Turbo, most of the people who were forced to leave their land five years ago are still afraid to return, despite the political accommodation reached

by Kenyatta and Ruto.

“Healing and reconciliation in this area is superficial and could explode at the slightest provocation,” he says.

Another man, who lives in Eldoret,

An aerial view of the Huruma village inside Kieni Forest in Gatundu north. Below: IPDs demonstrating to be resettled by the government. Pictures: Wanderi Njenga and Reject Correspondent notes that there is lingering animosity between the two communities.

“Many of us are still hurting,” he says. “There is no proper local mechanism for perpetrators to come out and confess and seek forgiveness despite the resettlement of some victims.”

The 2007-2008 violence may formally have been about an election result, but in the Rift Valley, it brought many old resentments to the surface.

Perceived injustices done to one side or another, land disputes, and competition for resources meant that conflict quickly escalated. These underlying issues have not gone away because they have not been resolved.

“While the events of 2007-2008 played a crucial role in the just-concluded electoral process, issues that informed the violence are yet to be addressed,” says John Ndeta, Media and Peace Coordinator, Peace Initiative Kenya project. He says: “Kenyans have realised that violence is not the solution to their conflict, and that peace is the way to go. However, issues of illegal and irregular land allocations and resource inequalities are yet to be dealt with.”

Peace organisations and initiatives in the Rift Valley welcomed the ICC’s intervention, saying it contributed to ensuring that last month’s election

went off peacefully.

At the same time, Kenyans’ faith in the ICC has declined steeply in recent weeks, after the court suffered a series of reverses particularly where witnesses withdrew.

Witnesses

Just as Kenyatta and Ruto were declaring victory, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped charges against a fourth suspect, former civil service chief Francis Muthaura, after a key witness admitted lying to the court.

Immediately after the Supreme Court confirmed Kenyatta’s election on March 30, following a legal challenge

by Odinga, the prosecutor made it public that three prosecution witnesses had withdrawn their testimony against the suspect, citing threats made to their families.

“The dropping of Muthaura’s case and witnesses withdrawing from these cases is disheartening and quickly obscuring our hopes for justice at the ICC,” says Anne Kandie, who lives on the outskirts of Eldoret.

Her husband died in the 2007-2008

“While the events of 2007-2008 played a crucial role in the just-concluded electoral process, issues that informed the violence are yet to be addressed.”

John Ndeta, Media and Peace Coordinator, Peace Initiative Kenya project

unrest.

Amid the political jubilation and the ICC’s embarrassing setbacks, some say the need to prosecute past perpetrators of violence is as urgent as ever – if only as a deterrent for the future.

“Kenyans can choose to appease themselves with the relative calm the country is enjoying at the moment, but sweeping under the carpet the crimes committed more than five years ago and pretending we have moved on amounts to deception,” observes Richard Maina, a lawyer and chairman of the Rift-based Champions for Peace group. He adds: “Without holding perpetrators accountable, the past injustices will haunt us forever.”

Peace-building

Nor does the Kikuyu-Kalenjin electoral alliance forged by Kenyatta and Ruto mean that ethnic divisions are a thing of the past. While Kenyatta took around six million votes, that leaves another five million — includ-

ing most Luo, Luhya and Kamba voters — who chose Odinga.

George Kegoro, executive director of the International Commission of Jurists in Kenya, believes these divisions need to be addressed headon.

“We must as a country openly start discussing ethnicity, ethnic cooperation and political competition, for the sake of national unity,” he notes.

However, James Kimisoi of the Catholic Justice Peace Commission drew a distinction between the rhetoric about peace-building coming from Kenya’s new leadership and the need to work towards genuine reconciliation on the ground.

“Political convenience along ethnic lines has continued to compromise efforts for justice in this country,” he says. “People easily believe what politicians say and forget the atrocities they have gone through.”

This article was produced as part of a media development programme implemented by IWPR and Wayamo Communication Foundation.

ISSUE 081, April 16-31, 2013

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

17

Giving children a fighting chance against pneumonia

By Joyce Chimbi The pain of losing a child to pneumonia is one that Hannah Kaigai knows too well. “My son got pneumonia infection when he was seven months old. From then on his health was never the same and he was always cold even when the weather was hot. He died at the age of three.”

There are many mothers in the country who can relate to Kaigai have suffered similar painful experiences of losing a child to pneumonia. However, children need not die of pneumonia. Many more can be saved the heartache if parents take their infants to hospital for pneumonia vaccine.

“There is no reason children should still be dying of vaccine-preventable diseases. The global vaccines community could be doing a lot better to make sure all babies in developing countries are fully vaccinated against killer diseases. We need vaccines that are easier to use in hard-to-reach places,” says Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, MSF Access Campaign.

Figures

Yet, government figures reveal that an estimated 30,000 children die annually from pneumonia.

Besides morbidity and mortality arising from pneumonia, thousands of parents have had to endure the pain and stress of having to live with a child who is suffering from pneumonia.

A situation that provoked the Government into action which included launching of a new pneumonia vaccine in 2011.

“Pneumonia is an inflammation of one or both lungs and is often due to a bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infection and common symptoms include fever, shortness in breath, chills and coughing,” explains Allan Njue, a public health officer in Nairobi. He adds: “Parents now have no reason not to have their child immunized against this condition.”

With the launch of the immunisation, Kenya became the first African country to roll out what in medical circles is referred to as pneumococcal vaccine.

Since then, the Government has expressed optimism that pneumonia will cease to be a lead-

ing cause of death and has predicted that the vaccine will prevent an estimated 7 million deaths by 2030.

According to GAVI Alliance, an organisation with a mission to save children’s lives with immunisations, the vaccine has prevented an estimated five million deaths since it was created in 2000.

Trials

Despite the fact that the pneumococcal vaccine trials were carried out at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) for over a decade, the drug had remained inaccessible to thousands of children.

This has seen health experts continue to cry foul over what they saw as Kenyan children being used as guinea pigs for a crucial life-saving drug that has until now continued to be inaccessible.

Before the launch, the vaccine was already available in various private hospitals but had remained out of reach for many children. A full dosage was going for about KSh15980 ($188) which for many Kenyans living under a dollar a day is too prohibitive.

Consequently, “hundreds of mothers and their babies convened at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) to have their babies vaccinated”, says Belinda Otieno.

Otieno, a mother of two sets of twins, who benefitted from the vaccination explains that “all measures necessary must be undertaken to save the lives of babies from diseases that are preventable”.

During the launch, former President Mwai Kibaki announced that the Government will “provide this life saving vaccine free of charge to every child less than one year old in public health facilities”.

A pledge that literally proved to be a breath of life for many children, particularly among the poor, who constitute a significant percentage of the populace.

The significance of this commitment cannot be over-emphasized seen that it comes after a long struggle by the government to subsidize the cost of the vaccine.

Former Kieni East division District Officer Stephen Sangolo gives a child a polio vaccine in a past event. Medics say that immunization is the lifeline to saving children under five years from dying of preventable diseases. Picture: Joseph Mukubwa In 2009, the Government clashed with an American drug manufacturer over the inhibitive costs. Further, the manufacturers had offered to give Kenya a onetime dose, an offer that the Government refused because the country was looking out for a sustainable solution.

This solution came through GAVI, an alliance of private-public partnerships geared towards saving children lives by facilitating access to vaccines in poor countries, committed to support the introduction of the new pneumonia vaccines in 19 developing countries within a year.

Although dependent on the availability of funds, GAVI plans to roll the vaccines out to more than 40 countries by 2015.

It is imperative to note that other stakeholders from non-government organisations are also working towards improving access to vaccination.

Outreach Kenya being home to thousands of refugees,

“most of the time you find that their babies are not immunised exposing them to a myriad of preventable diseases,” explains Ann Nduta, a volunteer nurse in Nairobi’s informal settlements.

To respond to this crisis, Safe Womanhood Organisation (SWH) has already held a largescale pneumonia awareness event for Somali and Oromo refugees residing in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

However, in spite of these concerted efforts, a lot more needs to be done before Kenya’s under five babies are completely out of the woods.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 150 million episodes of pneumonia occur every year among children under five in developing countries, accounting for more than 95 per cent of all new cases worldwide.

Further, statistics by WHO reveal that “more than half the total number of pneumonia episodes among children under five worldwide occur in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa”.

Taking stock on challenges and successes

… ..as Kenya continues to contain highly contagious vaccine preventable diseases

By Joyce Chimbi According to Medical experts, immunization is not only the most cost-effective health intervention, it is also the most successful, preventing millions of deaths every year.

“Immunization prevents devastating illnesses, disability and even death from vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, polio and pneumococcal,” says Dr Ken Onyango, a paediatrician in Nairobi.

While millions of Kenyan children have been saved from these preventable diseases, there are those that have not been so lucky.

Mary Wanja, now 56 years old, lost the use of her legs and hands due to a childhood traumatic encounter with polio.

“For many years, I had lost hope in life after having suffered persistent discrimination and neglect,” she explains.

Throughout her childhood, Wanja fought numerous painful incidences of stigma and discrimination.

At one point, while still admitted in hospital, her father, unable to come to terms with a disabled daughter claimed that Wanja had already died.

While Wanja was not lucky, the benefits of immunization are now being extended to female adolescents against the life threatening cervical cancer.

In 2000, countries represented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office for Africa established a goal to reduce deaths arising from measles. In five years, these countries, including Kenya, sought to cut measles mortality to 50 per cent.

Strategies adopted included routine immunization. According to Kenya Expanded Programme on Immunization’s (KEPI) by 2004 Kenya had reduced the number of reported measles cases by 99 per cent coming from 11,304 in 2001 to 20 in 2004.

“Immunization has far reaching benefits and April 21 to 28 being the World Immunization Week, as a country, we must take stock of successes and challenges in fighting vaccine preventable diseases,” says Onyango.

Established within the Ministry of Health in 1980, with the goal of immunizing all children in the country against six vaccine-preventable diseases, KEPI has made tremendous efforts to increase access to immunization services.

KEPI has also steadfastly sought to provide ‘effective and potent vaccines’ and also to increase demand for the services in order to reduce infant morbidity and mortality rates arising from vaccine preventable diseases.

In Kenya, the average deaths for those under five is about 77 deaths per 1,000 live births. It is, however, stagger-

ing in urban slums at 151 per 1,000 live births. And the leading causes are preventable.

To achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4: To reduce child mortality, immunization is key.

Medical experts such as Dr Onyango lay emphasis on the fact that to reduce by twothirds between 2000 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate, the Government “must make A traumatic encounter with polio left Mary Wanja with no use of her immunization accessible to evhands and legs. She has nonetheless turned her life around painting ery child less than five years old”. using her mouth. Access to a vaccine would have saved Wanja’s situation.

According to KEPI: “The Picture: Reject Correspondent country’s routine immunization trends have shown steady After a massive polio immunization ly attacks children under the age of five. but slow increase. Nationally, measles routine immunization is on campaign, the situation was effectively It is commonly passed by faeces of an an increase, but the levels have not in- contained restricting the spread of the infected person getting into the food chain, or rather the ingestion of the creased as fast as they would have been highly contagious polio virus.

However, this was only for a while, material contaminated with the polio expected.”

Further, KEPI notes: “Measles im- before the country could breathe a sigh virus found in stool. It causes paralysis munization coverage is currently only of relief, when in 2009 another case was and can be fatal.

While polio has no cure, it can be at 65 per cent coverage, a level that diagnosed in Turkana. Again, as is the is not sufficient for controlling out- case with Garissa, this incident was at- contained and or eliminated through breaks. Mass vaccination campaigns tributed to cross border human activi- vaccination.

Although it is clear that Kenya is have been conducted in Kenya since ties.

In 2011, a three year old boy in moving in the right direction towards 1996.”

While Kenya had enjoyed 21 years Western Kenya was diagnosed with containing vaccine preventable disof a society free from polio, this status polio prompting the Government to eases, Kenya’s under five children are changed when in 2006 a case of polio drive a massive polio vaccine campaign still not completely out of the woods. was positively diagnosed in Garissa. in Western Kenya and the surrounding Kenya is among ten countries facing serious challenges regarding access to It had been found in two refugees at districts in Rift Valley region.

Polio is highly-infectious and main- immunization.

Daadab Refugee Camp.

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ISSUE 081, April 16-30, 2013

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Homosexuality: The taboo subject

Debate over gay rights rages as calls for understanding are raised

By CAROLYNE OYUGI When John Mwia was growing up, he never liked toy cars or playing football like boys of his age. He preferred softer and beautiful things like dolls though he never had a chance to play with them. He also liked helping in the kitchen, something that made his mother uncomfortable.

He only came to understand what was happening to him when in high school: “I started paying attention to my grooming and noticing ‘beautiful’ boys around me,” Mwia explains.

Turn

However, things took a dramatic turn when a boy at school approached and seduced him. “Contrary to what you would expect, I felt comfortable with this move. The boy was handsome and neat; I felt the same for him.”

The affair between the two boys grew to a sexual relationship.

In college, Mwia realised he was not the only one with this ‘weird’ attraction to men. There were many others and they even had formed a group where they would meet and discuss issues affecting them.

However, despite this, those who are gay do not openly talk about their circumstances. Most of them are forced to hide because many Africans countries, Kenya included, have not come to terms with homosexuality.

Culturally, Africans regard gayism as a curse against tradition and religious leaders within the continent are totally opposed to it.

However, even though homosexuality is treated as a taboo subject, at the back of many people’s minds lingers the question as to the number of gay people in the country.

According to a popular gay rights website, GayKenya, six per cent of the Kenyan population is gay.

Uproar

It is recalled that former Nominated MP, Millie Odhiambo caused an uproar in the Tenth Parliament when she raised the controversial issue for the first time when she tried to allude that even some members of the august House are gays.

Considering that the Kenyan population is close to 40 million, this roughly translates to 2.4 million homosexuals and, therefore, calculates to show that one out of every 16 people in Kenya is homosexual.

Despite opposition by religious leaders it does not mean that there is no homosexuality in places of worship. There are whispers that some religious leaders have been suspected to be homosexual but these are claims without proof.

However, in recent times, there are priests who have been excommu-

David Kuria Mbote, Kenya’s first openly homosexual candidate for public office. John Mwia a 32 years old bisexual man who wants the government to protect their rights.

Pictures: Carolyne Oyugi and Courtesy nicated from the church because of their association gays. Such church leaders include Rev. John Makokha and Rev Michael Kimindu both of The Other Sheep East Africa.

According to Makokha, their main objective is to educate the public and have a dialogue with the said parties about what the Bible says or does not say about the subject.

Kimindu, however, regrets that they have been judged harshly by the society. “We are considered to be satanic and encouraging sin. We have been told that if we are sympathising with them (gays) then that means we are one of them and so we have no place in the church,” he says.

Dismissal

Kimindu shared with the Reject his dismissal letter dated December 18th, 2007 that read in part “Please make a point of seeing me as soon as possible so that we can discuss matters concerning Other Sheep East Africa …... …Until our discussion is done, my instruction is that you should not perform any leadership duty in St. Luke’s Parish”.

There are, however, people like

Mwia who have come out in the open about their sexual orientation and are working with others to ensure that their rights are not violated.

According to Fred Omondi, who works with Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) as a counsellor and mobiliser of Most at Risk Population (MARPs), there are many Kenyans who are living double lives.

Admission

Omondi admits that the homosexuals are very secretive and they have to earn your trust before sharing information about their sexual orientation.

Mwia, who works with Kenya Aids Vaccine as the bridge between MARPs and the Government is, however, happy that the Government has stepped in to sensitise the most at risk populations.

The, MARPs, are groups of people who are disproportionately at higher risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV because they engage in behaviours that predispose them to HIV infection.

“Gays and bisexuals are very secretive people and for you to reach them then you must work with one of

them,” explains Mwia.

A clear indication of the large number of homosexuals and gays is the increase in the number of groups fighting for their rights. The political wave is also changing and for the first time in East and Central Africa David Kuria, a politician, came out openly about his sexual orientation and declared his interest for an electoral seat.

Kuria was vying for the senator position in Kiambu County. He is, however, concerned that people do not judge him by his sexual prefer-

ence but his leadership qualities.

“We need to judge our leaders by their qualities; what they can do to improve our country not by whom they sleep with,” notes Kuria.

Mwia’s wish is that one day Kenyans will accept the reality that homosexuality exists and let them live freely.

From all aspects, it is clear that homosexuality is a reality in Kenya, and the challenge is how to handle the situation in a way that all citizens are protected and the national values are still upheld.

Executive Director: Arthur Okwemba Editor: Jane Godia Sub-Editors: Mercy Mumo, Carolyne Oyugi and Faith Muiruri

Write to: info@mdcafrica.org

Designer: Noel Lumbama

www.mdcafrica.org

Contributors: John Maina, Atieno Akumu, Anthony Zoka, Valentine Atieno, Robert Wanjala, Henry Owino, Oloo Janak, Teryani Mwadzaya, Omondi Gwengi, Joseph Mukubwa, Benson Mwanga, Nzinga Muasya, Paul Mwaniki, Yusuf Amin, Gladys Moraa, Munene Maina, Kabia Matega, Ben Oroko, Nicole Waithera, Ryan Mathenge, Gilbert Ochieng and Albert Mutua.

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