Senator Uasin Gishu County,
Members of National Assembly,
County Commissioner,
The Speaker of County Assembly
Deputy Governor,
Members of The County Assembly.
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to join you on this auspicious occasion of Jamhuri Day. Jamhuri day is a significant day in our national calendar that reminds us of the time when we attained our full independence from the colonial rule. I would like to extend my warm greetings to all citizens. I want to thank the general public present here, who have left their individual commitments out of a sense of patriotism, to celebrate this day with us today.
Today is not just a day for remembering when our republic was born; it is also a day for paying tribute to the founding fathers and the gallant men and women who toiled to give freedom and nationhood to our land.
As we acknowledge the crucial role independence heroes played in our country’s history, we must remember that the greatest honour that we can accord them is to espouse the high ideals they envisioned for our country. This day therefore should be a day that we reflect on the struggles and sacrifices that our forefathers made for us to enjoy the freedom that we have today. In this respect, we should take stock of our past achievements and energize ourselves to remain focused on what we wish to attain for our County and the country at large. In light of the fight against corruption in the Government, I wish to urge public officers to refrain from engaging in such vices.
As we celebrate the 55th year of our Independence, we also want to celebrate the success of Devolution. I wish to use this platform therefore to thank all the people of Uasin Gishu, all leaders, Government officers, investors and our friends for the unwavering support that has been given to my County Government since the inception of devolution. We collectively pledge to keep the good record of our development agenda. For our good friends and investors, I wish to remind you that this is the best County to live and invest in.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Agriculture, fisheries and livestock sector being one of the Government’s Big Four agenda remains the main focus around which other sectors will be developed in an integrated manner. It is from agriculture that school fees are paid and health bills are met. Agriculture is, therefore, a key lever for improving livelihoods as well as providing food. We will therefore focus on boosting agricultural production both in dairy and crop production to enhance production and increase earnings for our farmers. We intend to make Agricultural Machinery Services (AMS) a county parastatal and also allocate funds to acquire equipment that will subsidize production.
My Government intends to reinforce existing programs in agriculture, promote and support agro-processing initiatives for value addition. We will establish more farmer cooperative societies and create links between farmers and markets, both local and international to ensure that farmers get value for their products. We will work towards making agriculture a real business venture even for small-scale and peasant farmers by embracing diversification. We will look closely at the agriculture supply chain with an intention of making as much capital out of all the produce harvested.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Water remains key factor in economic growth. To spur our economy, my government has given priority to water development and infrastructure. This is in line with my manifesto and pledge to the people of this County in my campaign. Our county is an agricultural county and to put land into more use during the dry seasons, the department of Water and environment has prioritized water storage in the work plans. To achieve this, my government has procured robust desilting machinery to clean dams and water pans constructed in the pre-colonial period. These machinery include seven (7) excavators, six (6) tippers, three (3) back hoes, three (3) vibrator rollers and two (3) wheel loaders. My government targets to desilt over 160 dams/pans and I encourage the residents to utilize the water by practicing horticulture.
To further increase access to clean potable water, my government has adopted the green energy by use of solar powered pumps in equipping our boreholes. We are currently equipping 52 boreholes across the county. Furthermore, my government has procured two (2) drilling rigs to help in reducing the cost of access to clean water. This will be used to drill boreholes in our public institutions and facilities to supplement the community projects across the county.
To efficiently serve residents of Eldoret town and its environs, the Elgarini Water supply has been commissioned and currently giving us 9,000m3. The total daily water production serving Eldoret and its environs currently stands at 45,000 cubic metres. To further increase the supply, my government in conjunction with Rift Valley Water Services Board has tendered out the construction of Kipkaren water supply which will give an additional 24,000 cubic metres per day. With this volume, I encourage more investors to settle in Eldoret town as water availability will be guaranteed.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to note that tourism is another driving force for economic development. On this note, my Government has put in concerted effort to develop and diversify tourism attractions/ products in line with County and the NOREB region aspirations. Currently we are developing Kesses dam for water-based tourism activities and River Sosiani Nature Park among others. All these are geared towards increasing visitation into our county. My Government has also put in place strategies that will position this County as a tourist destination of choice both locally and internationally. Tourism is a private sector driven and my Government has from time to time partnered with various stakeholders and investors in developing tourism and its related infrastructure.
Environmental conservation is paramount in my government. Our environment is a borrowed resource for the future generations and must be conserved. My government has budgeted to plant twenty million tree seedlings across the county to increase our forest cover. Furthermore, I have set the annual event of Eldoret City Marathon as a way of nurturing talent and also conserving our water sources. I encourage all residents to join us in this event by planting indigenous trees in all our wetlands and river banks.
To keep the town clean and tidy, my government has procured a landfill compactor to be used to create space and properly manage our Kipkenyo dumpsite. We will procure three additional refuse trucks to attend to the growing satellite centers across the county. I call upon the residents of this great county to desist from throwing litter and dumping garbage anyhow and join hands in making our county clean.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
With regards to the health policies we have formulated Health Bill currently at the County Assembly that when passed and implemented, will spur coordination and development for the all stakeholders. As a County, we have gained recognition in initiating an independent audit for all health systems. We have put in place evidence-based practices regarding management of our health services that include operationalization of the six sub-county hospitals.
My government is currently implementing various interventions among them testing, treating and tracking patients to ensure that all those with disease symptoms are tested, those who test positive are treated with effective medicines, while surveillance is undertaken to track transmission areas and appropriate measures taken.
To ensure that we get less wastage of all drugs and get value for money for all the drugs we procure, we have centralized drug procurement and constructed a one-stop drug store where we store all the supplies from KEMSA. To this effect the supplies reach the far flanked facilities on time and the residents are served at their door steps.
My government has continued to partner with other development partners for the good of serving our people well. Development partners such as Ampath-plus have provided solution to people suffering with HIV/AIDS while MTRH has been the main referral facility tackling cases that are beyond our reach. World Bank, Unicef and other partners have provided capacity building to our staff and health workers in wards to provide responsive care to all citizens of our population.
In order to provide safe delivery services for our mothers & newborns, the percentage of deliveries conducted by skilled attendants has improved from 40% to 60.9% under the free maternity programme in the recent past.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In infrastructural development in our facilities, my government is regularizing all development plans through continuous inspection and planning of all buildings in the county. All sub county hospitals works are ongoing with completion and commissioning of a county reference laboratory at Uasin Gishu District Hospital. A model maternity at West health centre is currently underway with the expected effect of reduction of number of women seeking a safe delivery from Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital. I wish to note that a healthy population is key to propelling of development and as such we have prioritized primary health as a driving force for the prevention of illnesses and infirmities. Currently, new cold chain equipments (Refrigerators) are being installed in all our facilities to ensure appropriate storage of our vaccines to prevent vaccine preventable diseases.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me at this juncture to point out that despite the impressive strides that we have made, challenges still remain with us. These challenges are not unique to Uasin Gishu County but impact on the entire healthcare delivery system in the country and they include;
.Sustaining universal health coverage
.Health Infrastructure improvement and expansion
.Physical and economic access to healthcare
.Inadequate funding and release of funds by national government/ministry of health
These challenges are however surmountable. In view of the aforementioned, and in the spirit of devolution, I wish to urge all stake holders to continue investing in health care to safeguard the gains and further bring down the disease burden.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My government will continue to invest in technical and vocational skills that will place our people at a better position for employment in some of our recently established and yet to be established investment opportunities within and beyond our County. This will enable youths to fully and effectively participate in the County’s economy. We recognize that Youth form the biggest percentage of our population and the biggest challenges facing the youth in the county is unemployment.
In the department of trade, we have continued to participate in regional trade forums to boost inter-county and intra-county trade activities within NOREB partner counties. The department has also facilitated the investor visits from China to AEZ special economic zone in Plateau and signed grant contract with EU/Ministry of Devolution and ASAL for the development of a fresh produce wholesale market at Kimumu ward. I wish to note that the department also made efforts to decongest the CBD through relocation of hawkers and relocation of Lorries, trucks and vans to offload produce at Kahoya and Kimumu markets.
The collections of revenues under licensing section have been increasing steadily and so far stands at 98.9% basing on the previous reports. The Licensing section also managed to decentralize its services to the ward levels and this has greatly assisted in realizing the departmental targets.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the department of Co-operatives and enterprise development, this year alone the department carried out 43 Co-operative sensitization meetings across all the wards to sensitize the public on co-operative knowledge. Out of this, Twenty five (25) more Saccos have been registered bringing the total number of active Cooperative societies to 342 from 149 in 2012. Total registered Cooperatives in the county currently stand at 650. To ensure that entrepreneurs access the newly developed LPO loan product the department has registered AGPO Sacco in which the youth, women and People living with disability can access affordable credit to finance the tenders from the County government.
On this note, I wish to report that the county co-operative enterprise development fund was established to support the cooperative movement and develop entrepreneurial capacities among cooperatives and entrepreneurs. The fund has made remarkable progress since its inception in 2014. Through the fund, the county has advanced a total of Kshs.140.4 million of affordable credit to 65 cooperatives. In the last supplementary budget, my Government put aside an amount of money that brought the total revolving fund to Kshs. 371 Million.
In the upcoming projects for the department, the cooperative and enterprise department is supporting the establishment of a milling plant at Kabenes trading centre through Moisoy cooperative union. This has already been launched and 200 million shillings reserved to finance it. Furthermore, the department is mobilizing cooperative societies from Turbo and Kapseret to form a cooperative union to come up with their own project to be supported by the county government. Plans are underway to sensitize cooperative societies in Kesses and Ainabkoi on the same.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Human resource management is key in ensuring that service delivery to Mwananchi is enhanced. My Government has in the recent past confirmed more staff members who previously served on contract and casual basis into permanent and pensionable terms. This will not only boost the morale of the staff as they serve in the public office but also guarantee them job security.
For the long serving staff, my government has facilitated refresher and on-the- job trainings to increase their efficiency during the course of their work. We have also installed a biometric clocking system to ensure punctuality which enhances efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. In the spirit of inclusivity and in fulfill the constitutional requirement which requires that at least 5 % of all public service work force be reserved for persons living with disabilities, (PWD’s), my administration ring-fenced advertisement for PWD’s that have already been employed.
I also wish to note that in the financial year 2018/19 my Government was able to attach 650 interns to our departments and other Government institutions for the purposes of giving them opportunities for exposure and experience. The interns would be attached for a period of one year with a stipend.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In my concluding remarks, I wish to commend my staff and the residents of uasin Gishu County who participated in the recently concluded 19th edition of Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibitions for East Africa held at Eldoret Sports club. It was a big success and platform for our County to market itself and its products in the East African region. Through this exhibition, some of our county sponsored graduates were able to show case the skills acquired from our tertiary Technical institutes. Of interest to note was a young graduate from The Eldoret National Polytechnic who has been able to design a machine to make charcoal brackets and is currently making an average of Ksh. 50,000.00 per day. The County programs on empowerment are really working! As a County, we also take pride of being the first county to host the senate “Mashinani” in the month of September.
Lastly I want to take this opportunity to wish all the residents of Uasin Gishu a merry Christmas and a happy prosperous new year 2019.
Thank you and God bless you.
H.E. Hon. Jackson K. Arap Mandago
GOVERNOR – UASIN GISHU COUNTY.
