News Categories: Administration, Public Service and ICT

The Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP) projects funded by World Bank and implemented by the County Government of Nandi is picking pace in Kapsabet Municipality as the Department of Administration, public service and e-Government focuses on improving the business environment in Urban areas.

Kapsabet town, the County’s Headquarters, is one of the municipalities that qualified for the Urban Development Grant (UDG) of 177 million under KUSP. This program funds various projects geared towards enhancing both economic and infrastructural development within Kapsabet municipality. Projects have been tendered and are being implemented in two (2) major project phases. The first phase is the Non-Motorized Transport and Waste Management (NMT& WM) project while the other is Urban Economic infrastructure development (UEID) project.

The NMT & WN comprises of Pedestrian walk way, Racing track, Ablution block at Kapsabet bus park, Kapsabet bus park shades and extension of Sewer connection whereas the UEID covers Jua kali shades, Fabrication shades, High mast and Street lights.

Today, team from KUSP national coordination team from State department of Housing and Urban Development led by Patrick Gachanja, visited the county to assess the progress and status of the projects.

Some of the projects like the ablution block are nearing completion whereas some are at their initial stages. According to the CECM for Administration Public service and e-Government, Teresa Morogo, most of these Projects are set to be completed before the end of the year.

Citizens are therefore called upon to support the implementation of these projects for timely completion and for the accomplishment of the objectives.

#TransformingNandi

County Government of Nandi through its department of ICT & e-Government and that of Education & Vocational Training, in collaboration with Computer for schools Kenya(CFSK) has equipped all the 14 Vocational training centers with computers and is rolling out Computer literacy skills training program. This program focusses on equipping the youth countywide with the essential Computer and online skills geared towards having e-literate citizens as well as enhancing them to earn a living out of the online platforms.

The program is packaged with Google and AJIRA Digital Skills by National government’s Ministry of ICT aimed at training the youths on online skills that would enable them grab the available opportunities and work online in bid to curb unemployment.

The Six weeks Computer literacy skills training, which is examined and certified by CFSK is offered at a Subsidized cost of Ksh.2,800, whereas the Google and Ajira Digital are free. This program, whose registration is ongoing, starts its training in Kapsabet School For the Deaf, Chemundu and Cheptarit VTC in Emgwen and Chesumei Sub-Counties. Thereafter, the same program will progressively be rolled out in all other Sub-Counties.

The youths are therefore called upon to enroll into this program at the nearest Vocational Training Center and get equipped with these skills.

For more information, call Kapsabet School For the Deaf-0723882420; Chemundu VTC- 0723638171; Cheptarit VTC- 0720919005 or County Call Center – 1548.

Kenya Devolution Support Program (KDSP), which is a performance-based grants from the National Government to the counties, greatly uplifted the counties in building their Capacity and providing technical assistance. This had been achieved through a funding by World Bank to the counties that meet the minimum performance conditions.

Nandi county is one of the beneficiaries in this program where for counties to qualify for the Grant, they are evaluated on the major Key Result areas(KRAs) of Public Finance Management and planning (KRA1); Monitoring and Evaluation (KRA2); Human Resource and Performance management (KRA3); Devolution and inter governmental relations (KRA4) as well as Civic education and Public participation (KRA5).

To asses suitability for more funding, a team from KDSP conducted the county Annual Capacity and Performance Assessment (ACPA) in Nandi where impressive performance and prudent use of the funds was notable. According to the assessment team, among the best areas of performance by Nandi county are Public Finance Management, Civic education and Public participation.

Speaking during the ACPA exit meeting, the CECM for Administration, Public Service and e-Government, Teresa Morogo stated that Nandi county anticipates for better funding of over 200 Million which will focus on Development as a result of good performance in previous Grant of 40 Million awarded for Capacity building and technical support in the last financial year.

The need for county governments to have reliable sources of Revenue is key principle in Kenya’s devolution. The higher own source revenue give the counties better resources for discharging the different functionalities and improving service delivery for the betterment of the citizens.

The county government of Nandi is always calling upon it’s citizens’ loyalty in payment of their dues as one of the ways of improving the county’s level of revenue. This local revenue dictates the share of the national kitty and thus relates to the level of development in the county.

To enhance better revenue, the County Department of Finance and Economic Planning came up with proposed amendments in the Finance Bill where, today, the citizens of Nandi had an opportunity to give their views on The Nandi county Finance Amendment Bill 2019. In the forums held in all the sub-counties, the people interacted with the proposed amendments in the Nandi County Finance Act 2019.

These amendments touches on areas of acquisition of fire compliance certificate, hire of drilling rig, land rates, CT Scan services, fees for physical planning services, hire of sports facilities and liquor licencing among others.
Such forums give an opportunity for democracy and participation of the people, enhance public awareness, give a better understanding of governance processes, promote transparency and more so promote community ownership of Public decisions. The people’s views in today’s public participation are key and will therefore be included in the proposed amendments before submitting to the County Assembly.

National government’s ministry of devolution has greatly supported the counties in the journey of successfully implementing devolution. It has done this through the Kenya Devolution Support Program (KDSP) funding to support counties in Capacity building, technical assistance, institutional strengthening and enhancing good governance.

The program has developed a range of activities that would ensure successful achievement of Capacity building and improved performance. Among these activities is the robust annual assessment of progress towards the realization of a national Capacity building framework results in the counties.

Speaking during the county KDSP technical committee meeting, the CO for Public Service Management said that with the human resource policy and the establishment of performance Management unit, there is an anticipated improvement in performance ahead of this year’s assessment.

CO in charge of Administration and Devolved units, Scolastica Tuwei, further added that the county is tirelessly working towards achieving a 100% citizen engagement through Civic education and Public participation

Nandi County KDSP annual assessment is set for next week. The exercise will focus on the Key Result Areas (KRA) of Public financial management; planning, monitoring and evaluation; human resource and performance Management; Devolution and inter-governmental relations, Civic education and Public participation.

County’s ICT Sub sector, in its journey towards automation of all county processes, is looking forward to rolling out County Projects Management System (CPMS). This system intends to help all stakeholders in tracking progress and status of all projects undertaken by all the departments begin from the tendering stage all through to completion.

According to the CO for ICT &e-Government, Jonathan Misoi, the department is progressively digitizing county processes for good governance and effective delivery of services in the county.

He further added that the upcoming CPMS is going to re-engineer the existing manual projects’ M&E processes as well as give the citizens an opportunity to monitor and give their opinions on the ongoing projects in their respective wards.

The CO for Economic planning, Felix Sambu, speaking during a consultation forum between ICT and Economic Planning teams, stated that adoption of such system will boost monitoring and evaluation of projects, reduce delays in projects execution and enhance real-time reporting.

This system, with it’s main user as the Department of Finance and Economic Planning, will be a perfect tool for Monitoring and Evaluation of the programs and projects for successful and timely achievement of projects’ objectives as stated in the County Integrated Development Plan

Regular assessment of county’s capacity in it’s performance areas has always resulted in improved delivery of service to it’s citizens.

Today, consultants from AHADI-USAID in partnership with the Council of Governors visited the county to give a report on county’s performance in 2018 as well as carrying out 2019 capacity assessment. This continuous County Capacity Assessment (CCA) which picked up it’s pace in 2016 is now in it’s final stages of their first phase working with 22 counties.

This assessment is focussing on policies, laws and administrative systems in capacity areas of Public participation, Human resource management, financial and procurement systems, county planning, County Budgeting, inter-county relations as well as monitoring and evaluation

Assessment Team visiting County Head of Budget

Speaking during the CCA3 (2018) report presentation and the onset of CCA4 (2019), the CO in charge of Public Service, Grace Sugut pointed out Nandi County’s great improvement in CCA3 of 2018 performing at 82% compared to 64% in CCA2 of 2017. Ms. Sugut added that there is an anticipated improvement in the 2019 as a result of the efforts put in place to address some capacity area shortcomings.

Paschalin Basil, a Researcher at AHADI, lauds Nandi county’s success which is attributed to the successful reforms by Governor Sang’s administration with the culture of professionalism in the Public service since his arrival. This has resulted in the high success rates of project implementation. #TransformingNandi

Assessment Entry Meeting

In pursuit of improving emergency response, open governance, citizen engagement and public participation, the County Government of Nandi through ICT and e-Government sector has established a Call Centre where the residents fo Nandi and external clients can contact the county.

Meeting with Eldoret Safaricom Customer Care leadership

The modern Call Centre will handle emergency and disaster response, AI services, NHIF registration and inquiries, busines rates and permits. The callers can call 1548 toll free and talk to the call centre agents on the above Services. Other service provided by the County Government of Nandi will be availed in due course.

Call Centre Management in company of H.E Dr. Yulita Cheruiyot, Deputy Governor and the Safaricom team during the benchmark

The County Government of Nandi is committed to serving our people better as we transform Nandi County together.

ICT sector is charged with the responsibility of designing, developing and implementing innovative information systems that have an impact on improved service delivery to the citizens of the county for effective governance.

The County Government of Nandi through the department of ICT and E-Government is continuously rolling out a training program to the county officers on the use of the new technological enhancements geared towards automating and improving service delivery.

Nandi County Government will be amongst the first Counties in the republic to digitize nearly all her services. Among the services already digitized are; parking payment and citizen’s self service portal for business permits, most of the operations and processes in hospitals will soon go paperless through the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), improved Jobs Application portal where applicants are notified by a short message on the status of their applications and the Digifarm platform to be implemented in partnership with Safaricom.

Speaking during the training of departmental administrators on the operations and effective use of the call centre which is a 24 hour communication platform for the citizens, the Chief Officer in charge of ICT, Jonathan Misoi pointed out that the technological enhancements by county’s ICT sub sector are going to transform services in all other departments.

“The Citizens of Nandi County will be the main beneficiaries since the prudent use of these systems bring services closer to the people and make them more informed, enhance accountability, reduce delays as well as the cost of service delivery”, Said Misoi.

Successful implementation of these systems and service provision will be made possible by the County’s state of the art data centre that will smoothen transition from analogue to digitized services.

These trainings are timely and will therefore ensure effective, efficient and satisfactory delivery of services as well as proper governance to citizens of Nandi County.

The County Government of Nandi endeavors to reach out to its citizens and give them an opportunity to freely participate in governance and delivery of services. Among the strategies put in place include the establishment of Nandi County Call Centre.

Through this platform, the citizens can make inquiries by calling, sending an sms or email and seek information concerning the plans, programs and projects by all the county departments.

Today the county Secretary, Dr. Francis Sang, visited the Nandi county call center and the data center to check on the progress and readiness a head of the launch later this month. Dr. Sang said that there is an anticipated increase in interaction between the government and the citizens eventually making the general public informed. He further added that many lives will be saved as handling of emergencies is fastened.

The ICT and Communication team is finalizing on setting up the call center and thereafter the public will be given the toll free call and SMS numbers for them to make their calls.

According to the CO for ICT, Jonathan Misoi, who was also present said that the call center will greatly impact on the lives of the people of Nandi especially in handling matters of emergency. He further calls upon the public to make use of the call center when the time comes.

Also present was the County Head of Public Relations, Kipsaro Boit, Sub County Administrator for Nandi Hills, Fred Kiptum and Medical superintendent for Kapsabet County referral hospital, Dr. Daniel Kemboi.