Author: Cornelius Kipkoech

Safaricom Foundation has donated a Full Haemogram Machine to Chemase Health Center through its Ndoto Zetu initiative to help improve medical services.

While receiving the machine from Safaricom Foundation, Tindiret Sub County MoH Dr. Joseph Kibor admitted that the Haemogram Machine is a big boost in the health sector.

“Our target is to take medical services near to the people as well as preparing for the universal health cover as one of the county government measures in addressing medical issues amongst our people,” he said.

He further noted that the availability of machine will address medical challenges that faced the laboratory department in the region adding that initially, patients in the hospital had to seek those medical services elsewhere.

Amos Barno the hospital in-charge noted that the equipment has come at the right time adding that they will not only serve Nandi’s population but also a large population from the neighboring Kisumu County.

The ceremony was witnessed by Suzanne Gwehema Customer Experience Executive, who represented Safaricom Foundation at the event.

Nandi County’s Immunization coverage has dramatically improved and has made enormous contribution to the County’s health and mortality rates among children due to vaccine-preventable diseases have been significantly reduced over the past three years.

Latest statistics show that 98.8% of two-year-old children were fully immunised in the three month reporting period ending December 2020. This was revealed by KANCO during GAVI HSS stakeholders meeting held in Kapsabet that brought together journalists, religious leaders, civil society and sub county EPI Coordinators.

Achievements of the County’s health sector and Immunization in particular are justified by commitment of high leadership, good partnership with development partners and grown home solutions to solve our population problems.

This has also been made possible with the support from Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium (KANCO) with the participation of communities, a better understanding of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy, the expansion of vaccination across the life course, approaches to improve immunization in rural areas, enhanced use of data and possible financial and non-financial incentives.

“Vaccines have an important role to play in comprehensive disease control, including the fight against antimicrobial resistance,” said Rachel Rop, the County EPI Coordinator.

Nandi County’s success is attributed to the inclusion of communities and civil society and faith based organizations and journalists who are crucial in making sure the vaccines and their delivery are acceptable, appropriate, and sustainable. Community-based organizations have stepped up their involvement in immunization and developed locally adapted solutions to removing social and cultural barriers, to re-create trust in immunization services, where it had waned, and to increase the locally adapted use of vaccines.

Present at the event were KANCO Regional Coordinator Steve Ikonya among other officials.

Taining to keep staff updated on the skills needed to meet the growing demands, address changing industry trends, and use new technologies is a mission-critical component of the county department of health.

Training is required to prepare staff to respond to changes within an organization to meet new regulatory requirements and stay competitive in a technologically advancing environment.

The health sector in Nandi County has received a major boost after the Government acquired 6 Biochemistry analysers and 7 full haemogram machines. The machines have already been distributed to all level 4 facilities in the six subcounties and the personnel trained on usage of the modern machines.

Under the leadership of Governor Sang Health sector has seen tremendous improvement both in infrastructure, Equipping and and human capital.

In fulfilling his promise to make health services affordable and available across the county, Governor Sang in his latest milestone achievement has seen all level 4 facilities within the county equipped with modern machines to aid in accurate and evidence based diagnosis thus improving the management and treatment of patients.

The recently acquired machines will offer a wide range of services and increase the scope of diagnosis in our level 4 facilities. The recent decision to equip these facilities is not only to offer services close to the people but also to decongest Kapsabet County Referral Facility that has seen influx of the patients rise up exponentially due to its improved service delivery to the people.

The Biochemistry analysers will aid in diagnosis and management of various diseases affecting lungs,kidneys, heart among many other organs. It will also help in the management of patients in dialysis and ICU and those schedule for surgeries as it monitors biochemical analysis of various fluids in Human body.

Full blood count machines will aid in diagnosis, monitoring and management of various diseases and conditions associated with blood e.g various types of aneamia and other general infections affecting blood. It is one of the routine tests in our hospitals that determines a wide range of infections and conditions.

The health sector in Nandi County has faced major infrastructural development over the past two years.

Under the leadership of Governor Stephen Sang, the health sector has received massive funding to support transformation of various hospitals within the county not only at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital but also in all the sub county hospitals that have benefited from the government’s robust equipment distribution plan.

Governor Sang is keen on availing residents easy access to specialized treatment at lower costs.

All Level-4 hospitals in the six sub-counties are getting a face lift in a hospital expansion programme aimed at increasing the scope of services including specialist attention to patient’s right at the grassroots. Ultimately, this will drastically ease pressure at the county’s referral facility since non-critical cases can be handled at the sub-county hospitals which are spread across the six sub-counties.

So far, the county government has put up two modern theatre units at Nandi Hills County hospital. The hospital is now offering surgery services, cases which would otherwise be referred to KCRH.

The County Government has also acquired seven Haemogram machines to boost the diagnostic sector.

The machines have been delivered to Nandi Hills County Hospital, Mosoriot, Meteitei, Kaptumo, Chepterwai, Kabiyet Sub County Hospitals and KCRH.

Hematology analyzer is used to perform Complete Blood Count (CBC) or full blood count (FBC). It is a group of tests performed on a sample of blood mainly the three components of the blood; Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets.

By it being a broad screening panel it checks for the presence of a wide range diseases and infections in the body.

This year, 32 years after the first World AIDS Day, the observance is marked amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Nandi County healthcare workers and partners that care for people living with HIV have worked tirelessly to continue to provide vital services.

World AIDS Day this year finds us still deep amid another pandemic – COVID-19.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s World AIDS Day holds extra significance.

The County department of health is marking this day differently by giving the “Maisha packs” to the most vulnerable PLHIV identified at Comprehenaive Care Center.

“As a department, we are committed to continue to work in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. We are not forgetting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ruth Koech, CEC for Health.

NANDI GOVERNORS’ VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT KICKS OFF

The 2019 Nandi County Governors’ Cup volleyball tournament served off Saturday morning at the Kapsabet showgrounds in Kapsabet Ward, Emgwen Sub County and was officially opened by Nandi Deputy Governor Dr. Yulita Cheruiyot. The tournament, sponsored by the County Government of Nandi and Kenya Volleyball Federation attracted more than 50 teams, both men and women in different categories.

According to the deputy county boss, the County Government of Nandi will continue partnering with other organizations to nature talents of the young people as a perfect way of engaging them to integrate and live harmoniously.

Draws were conducted this morning to determine the pools and fixtures for the two-day tournament.

SELF SUPPORTING MEN CATEGORY

POOL A

1. KABIYET
2. MOSOP
3. RIFT VALLEY
4. SCORPION
5. AFRAHA

POOL B

1. GREEN FARMERS
2. ALDAI
3. TINDERET
4. MAJI SAFI
5. ICIPU

POOL C

1. THINGITHU
2. EMNGWEN
3. KIPKAREN
4. BRIGHT SHINNERS
5. HURUMA

POOL D

1. CHESUMEI
2. KAPTEL
3. NANDI HILLS
4. KAPLONG
5. NAIROBI CENTRE

SELF SUPPORTING WOMEN CATEGORY

POOL A

1. SKY HAWK
2. ELDORET LADIES
3. KERICHO LADIES

POOL B

1. HURUMA
2. KIMUMO
3. JUJA

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES CATEGORY
BOYS

POOL A

1. LELMOKWO B
2. KABIYET
3. USIU
4. JKUAT
5. BARATON

POOL B

1. LELMOKWO A
2. BARINGO TECHNICAL
3. TUK
4. CHEPTIL

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES CATEGORY
GIRLS

POOL A

1. ST. AUGUSTINE
2. CHEPTIL
3. STRATHMORE UNIVERSITY

POOL B

1. SOIN
2. KOSIRAI
3. JKUAT

SENIOR WOMEN CATEGORY

1. KCB A VS KCB B
2. KPC VS PRISONS K

The Nandi County Assembly has approved names of the nominees for the positions of the County Secretary, County Executives for Education & Vocational Training, Transport & Infrastructure, and Lands, Environment, Natural Resources & Sanitation.

The Appointments Committee, chaired by the Speaker, Hon. Joshua Kiptoo, had vetted the top county officers then retreated for report writing.

The report on vetting was on Wednesday afternoon tabled in the House for deliberation and after a lengthy debate on the report, the house unanimously adopted the report which recommended the appointment of the officers.

Top in the list is the County Secretary Dr. Francis Kipkemboi Sang who has been in acting capacity for the past two years and previously was a member of the County Public Service Board, CECM for Education Grace Jepchirchir Sugut who was the Chief Officer for Public Service. She was previously a member of the County Public Service. CECM for Transport and Infrastructure Engineer Drice Kibet Rono, CECM for Lands, Environment and Natural Resources, Water and Sanitation Dr. Philemon Kiptoo Bureti who until his appointment was the Director for Health Administration, Operations and Planning.

The MCAs after endorsing the report, said the vetting was thorough and that all the nominees satisfy the requirements of Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya on Leadership and Integrity.

This now paves way for the swearing in ceremony for the nominees that is slated to take place anytime from next week.

It is an inescapable fact that young people constitute the most socially active and energetic segment of the population in Nandi. Young people are endowed with the energy and creativity; and they are our society’s most productive human resource with the greatest potential to contribute positively to County development.

Acknowledging the youth as the season of hope and the promise of great things to come, the county government of Nandi through the department of Sports, Youth Affairs and Arts has distributed welding machines as job starter tools to the youths.

Presenting the tools to beneficiaries from the three sub counties of Emgwen, Chesumei and Mosop, Nandi Deputy Governor, Dr. Yulita Cheruiyot reiterated the commitment of Tuga Tai administration to employment creation for the youths, as the focus was to alleviate poverty among the less-privileged.

The deputy governor urged the beneficiaries to justify the huge investment on them by using the tools judiciously.

She expressed confidence that the programme would serve as a good take-off point to creating a source of livelihood with the beneficiaries becoming employers of labour, leading economic growth and development of the society.

“Our administration will continue supporting policies and practices that will aid in the transformation we are witnessing among our young people, including livestock production, marketing, sports, livelihoods diversification, and knowledge management, among other programs,” said the deputy county boss.

Through the department of Youth Affairs, the government has so far presented 45 electric welding machines with a target of 100 to selected artisan youth groups in Nandi geared towards elimination of unemployment among the youth.

The selection of the beneficiaries was done at the ward offices and at the department of youth affairs offices for those youths who submitted requests for empowerment tools.

The department of youth affairs and arts is targeting one hundred youth groups to benefit from the empowerment support program.

Chief Officer Youth and Arts Nelson Ligaga urged the Ward Administrators and youth officials to monitor the usage of the tools to ensure that they are appropriately utilized.

The CO reiterated that his sector will be distributing more machines to youths from Nandi hills sub county this week and the rest of the sub counties in the coming weeks.

Sports Chief Officer Kennedy Tanui stressed that the programme was in the overall interest of the our youth and county at large.

The county government of Nandi remains determined to tackle the challenges of unemployment through various empowerment programmes.

Distinguished guests,

County leaders, farmers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you are aware, Nandi is among 21 Counties implementing the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Project (NARIGP) whose development objective is to improve productivity and profitability among targeted communities.

I have noted that NARIGP is a Community Driven project. All the beneficiary communities and stakeholders have already been adequately sensitized and consulted. All implementing Wards have prepared Community Development Plans articulating their development priorities. It is against this backdrop that Community driven development committees (CDDCs) have been elected in each of the 20 NARIGP implementing Wards to oversee the implementation of the project at community level.

I wish to applaud the Department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development for the steps they have taken to establish the committees in each Ward. I am informed that all the members were elected through an open, fair and democratic process particularly by farmers engaging in dairy, indigenous chicken, Irish potatoes and Avocadoes, which are the priority value chains supported by the project in the County. I am also satisfied with the efforts made by the project staff to prepare them to carry out their mandates in each Ward. I understand that all the CDDCs have been adequately trained on their roles. They have also registered as Community based organizations (CBOs) and have opened bank accounts through which project grants for implementing beneficiary farmer groups will be channeled.

Pursuant to the Project Participation Agreement, which I signed in November 2017, my government is required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each CDDC for them to be eligible for funding. We are therefore gathered here today as the entire County leadership to witness the signing of the MOUs between our two parties.

To all the members of the CDDCs, I wish to remind each one of you that your new assignment will demand your selfless service to Mwananchi. I therefore call upon you to embrace servant leadership and be committed to render strong and accountable leadership in order to achieve progress amongst our farming community and by extension, to this great County at large.

I take this early opportunity to assure you of our continued support as per our obligations under the MOU. I am aware of the great responsibility bestowed upon you particularly in handling project resources entrusted to you on behalf of the community. I therefore call upon all leaders to play their role in nurturing and supporting you to ensure effective implementation of the project.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are gathered here again to witness the launch of the County’s first ever Geospatial Information Systems {GIS} lab, a project that has been made successful following the support of EU through FAO in the land programme that seeks the attainment of Vision 2030 through devolved land reforms in community lands in Kenya.

The County Governments Act of 2012, The Urban Areas and Cities Act and the Physical Planning Act {Cap 286} requires county governments to put in place a Spatial Plan that will guide the development of urban areas so as to ensure proper utilization of land resources in the county.

This Plan, among other roles shall indicate the desired patterns of land within the county, address the spatial construction and of the county, provide strategic guidance in respect to the location and nature of development within the county and set out basic guidelines for a land use management system.

GIS will also be significant in the resurvey of lands held by Tea Estates to establish if there is any residue to be held in trust for the community by the County Government for public purposes. This is pursuant to a recent ruling by the National Land Commission.

After 113 years since the murder of our hero Koitaleel Araap Samoei and the forcible transfer of the Nandi population from their fertile land, NLC ruled that a resurvey be done on lands held by Tea Estates to establish if there is any residue to be held in trust for the community by the County Government for public purposes. The GIS systems is going to be a valuable tool in our ongoing efforts to review our and update our county rating roll from which rates and rent are payable. This will greatly improve our local revenue collection.

This system will also greatly simplify the settlement for the various squatter groups including Titan Squatters, Timur Nandi Community, Nyando Valley Association and Nandi Kaburwo Council of Elders as directed by NLC
At the same time, GIS shall be instrumental in land use, urban, transport planning and environment planning. It will also help in surveying and mapping, analysis of areas required for various interventions, analysis of productive agricultural areas and disaster management and mitigation.
Through GIS, the county government shall effectively do soil mapping, natural resource management, wetland mapping and generate information on all our tourist attraction sites.

The County Government of Nandi is already in the procurement process to start county’s spatial planning through the Department of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources. The establishment of the GIS lab has come in handy since these spatial planning cannot be possible in absence of the GIS technology. There is need to balance food production and urbanization in our county. Urban areas require raw materials for processing which can only be gotten from the rural areas while at the same time rural areas need processed food for consumption. This kind of correlation, therefore, demands that we need to balance our planning for a long term effect.

Among my commitments to the people of Nandi when I was seeking their trust in leading the County is my promise to address the Historical Land Injustices that subjected the people of Nandi to untold suffering in their own land. The petition to the National Land Commission has since been processed. I am happy to report that the ruling of all the cases was in favor of the people of Nandi. This therefore means that we have a clear guideline on how we shall address the issue of squatters and all the communities that were involved in such injustices. With the GIS lab, we shall be able to clearly identify and map all the areas with ease and take the necessary action as guided by the Land Commission.

The county has embraced the use of ICT in service delivery in all departments and GIS is among the technologies we are adopting in the Department of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources. Other ICT initiatives that we are putting in place is the automation of our hospital process through Health Management Information System which is at the final stages of deployment, biometric registration of all the county staff through Human Resource Management System, upgrade of the revenue collection system and establishment of the data centre that will host all our systems.

We are also at the final stages of stages of establishment of 24 hour contact center that will have a toll free line. This will enable the people of Nandi and outside to call in and report disasters, emergencies or make general inquiries at absolutely no cost. This will enhance our public participation and open governance as we seek to full engage the people of Nandi in the transformational agenda of my government.

We are also in the process of acquiring Agricultural Information Management System from Safaricom. This system shall enable us to register all farmers in Nandi County. The information shall be instrumental in rolling out various farming programmes and improvement of extension service. The platform shall also provide vital information to the farmers that will enhance their yields. As we establish a milk processing plant, the system shall be instrumental in capturing the data of the entire value chain in the dairy sector.

Today the County Government of Nandi shall also sign an MoU with Ward Community Driven Development Committee {CDDC} on the implementation of National Agricultural Rural and Inclusive Growth Project {NAGRIP}. The programme seeks to implement agricultural sub-projects identified and managed by communities identified across the county. The partnership is welcome especially at this time when we intend to fully engage the people of Nandi in all the projects we are rolling out.

Ladies and gentlemen, with all these initiatives around land use and agriculture, I want to assure that transformation journey is becoming clearer and better every day.

It is my humble request that we all join hands in all these programs since all of them mean well for our county.

For those few remarks let me thank you all for joining us in this landmark events that marks the beginning of a journey that will positively impact on our lives and those of generations to come.

Thank you! God Bless Nandi.

HON. STEPHEN K. ARAAP SANG
GOVERNOR