The Anchor, October 2009

The Anchor stories in September 2009 Issue

MAIN STORY
Restive residents want action
Taking Charge
WATER and Irrigation Minister Charity Ngilu has moved to close a leadership vacuum in Ukambani in a bid to restore honour and reverse poverty among the popu­lation.
Making the declaration in Machakos, Mrs Ngilu said the abject poverty facing the citizens is indicative of failing leadership of a people, a situation, she said she would not tolerate any further.
She first made the remarks at the funeral of leading Macha­kos Busi­nessman Josiah Munuka. She said Kamba leaders in gov­ernment had clear responsibilities within their dockets and challenged each of them to take action. She said she would ensure water for humanity, their live­stock and irrigation on the farms. ™ Let the other leaders do their part and keep off my line of duty. Kila mtu atumie talanta yake. She said to wild cheers.
She took up the same line of thought during a historic meeting convened under the chairmanship of businessman Mr Tito Musyoka where Agriculture Minister Will­iam Ruto came to explain what his ministry would do to ensure food in Ukambani. Mrs. Ngilu also used the forum to explain what she was doing to ensure provision of wa­ter in Ukambani where over 100 water projects are being carried out.
™ I have decided that this meeting was necessary to be held to address ag­ri­cul­ture in Ukambani because our other leaders are obsessed with sy­co­phan­tic leadership while our people suffer in pov­erty∫, she thundered to the applause of citizens who overflowed Machakos Social Hall, venue of the meeting.
The meeting was planned soon after the Munuka burial. Mrs Ngilu met local resi­dents who asked her what the commu­nity would do to get seeds that are reported to be available to farmers in the Rift Valley. She responded instantly to the request by setting out a day when she said she would haul Mr Ruto to Machakos to respond to the concerns.
Mrs Ngilu told the meeting how she stormed Mr Ruto's office and convinced him to come to Ukambani to explain what the ministry of Agriculture would do to boost farming in the region.
™These people want to know how many tractors will be send to plough their farms just as it is planned for the Rift Valley. They also want seeds and fertilizer for their farms besides adequate water for irri­gation∫, Mrs Ngilu said.
She explained that she would not be cowed into silence by leaders whose only quest is to be recognized while the ma­jority of residents remained poor. ™ This is what has driven me to calling this meeting. I shall not wait for those seeking glory for their time is over, Mrs Ngilu said.
The meeting caused tension in Machakos Town as local MP Dr Victor Munyaka rounded up youth in his house where he paid them to disrupt the meeting.
Dr Munyaka arrived at the meeting breathing fire and brimstone, claiming that he had not been informed about the meeting. But the fact that such a big meeting would be convened in his con­stituency without being consulted spoke volumes over his relevance or oth­er­wise in Machakos Town.
Even as he tried to scuttle the meeting in vain, so strong was the surge that he had to appear there anyway or become irrel­evant altogether. His militias could do nothing either when they saw the hu­manity that had assembled to listen to the two ministers. So shameful were his schemes that some of the youth called other leaders from the meeting venue and the leaders listened as Munyaka and some civic leaders insulted those they per­ceived to be their detractors. Sources said one local MP sent Sh 100,000 to buy intoxicants to the youth to cause may­hem. They were paid Sh 200, according to Kioko Ndeto, one of the militiamen assembled for the dirty job.
The Ruto visit took him to Yatta where the government plans to sue over Sh 2b to erect a dam and revamp the Yatta Farrow. They also flew to Kibwezi where a major irrigation scheme is taking off to address food shortage.
Mr Ruto said he had come to Machakos to address citizens needs and not to do poli­tics.∫ Therefore I want all of you to relax because we came here to work∫. He caused laughter when he asked if there was an election in the offing because of the tension he saw in the meeting.
Much as the pair had come to work, there were clear political overtones as Mrs Ngilu was clearly making a political comeback in Ukambani politics. It was the first time in a long time that she organised a meeting in Machakos City, the Capital of Uka­m­bani where Kalonzo Musyoka has been popu­lar in the last few years.
Observers see the meeting as a daring statement from Mrs Ngilu that the days ahead will be repleat with political shows of supremacy. Mrs Ngilu's resurgence is linked to the massive mobilization of re­sources in Ukambani to provide resi­dents with water.
Her efforts to provide water cover the en­tire region, including Mwingi North, the VP's constituency where she has spread her tentacles to she was appointed to the slot, courtesy of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Her detractors have been pouring cold water on her efforts, saying that the wa­ter was being provided by the Government. Some of them have also been going round saying that they would also put up dams. Mrs Ngilu has countered the claims by asking why her detractors have not brought the same resources to Ukambani despite the fact that they have been in Gov­ernment longer than her- a clear reference to the VP.
™What she has done is to identify a gaping void in the Kamba body politic. She has identified the weakest point in the rival camp and it appears that it is working∫, said Hillary Kimeu, an NGO executive who is working in Ukambani to address food security and understands the failures of politicians.
™She brings the promise of a better life. When she comes calling, she is bringing hope to the people- not mere promises and empty re-assurances that have been made for far too long∫, he added.
Mrs Ngilu is riding high on the fact that what she says she will do, she does it promptly. Even as Mr Ruto pledged to pro­vide seeds worth Sh 179m, Mrs Ngilu quickly calculated and said her con­stituency would get approximately Sh 10m.
She told residents to note that there were seeds awaiting collection for distribution' ™All you neeed to do is to pressurize your MP to go for the seeds. But if you note that they are not keen to do so, do not hesitate to seek the fastest way to get the seeds yourselves∫, Mrs Ngilu said.
Assistant minister Wavinya Ndeti, former MPs Kalembe Ndile, Mwanzia Daudi and Grace Mwewa also addressed the meeting.
The Agriculture minister said the gov­ernment plans to turn the semi arid Ukambani region into a food surplus zone from the current food deficit.
To this end, he said, 60,000 acres will be put under irrigation in the next five years to realize the ambitious dream.∫Ukambani has the potential to become a food bas­ket if water for irrigation is available∫, he de­clared
He said at least one million acres of land will have been put into irrigation na­tionally in the next five years .
Mrs,Ngilu and Ndeti said the people of Ukambani were tired of depending on re­lief food handouts and called for a lasting solution to the food insecurity in the re­gion.
of dams and sinking of boreholes.
Musila stands up to Kibaki

Defence Assistant Minister and Mwingi South MP David Musila showed un­wa­vering leadership in Parliament by rising to oppose the decision by Presi­dent Kibaki to reappoint Justice Aaron Ringera to head KACC.His po­sition is bound to ruffle feathers in his party- ODM-K where party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Secretary Gen­eral Mutula Kilonzo have taken sy­co­phan­tic stances to defend the Presi­dent. Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama also took a similar stance.
Musila, speaking boldly as did Water and Irrigation Minster Charity Ngilu in opposing the president, said what matters most for him was his bond with Mwingi South voters and not the po­sition of Assistant Minister.∫ That is what matters to me. Other things are secondary∫, he said as he jumped over the loop of collective re­spon­si­bility that tames members of government from criticizing it.
Ngilu, making a personal statement from the floor, Ngilu said she was as opposed to the reappointment of Jus­tice Ringera as she was when he was appointed in the first place.
She tore into Mr Kilonzo for reading a list of alleged suspects of corruption that included her name, saying Mutula himself had no moral au­thority to table such a list, citing his past. ™He should be the one being investigated∫, Mrs Ngilu charged
Musila said he had asked himself four crucial questions, whose answers were in the negative. He said Justice Ringera had failed in his work and as such his re­appointment should not arise.
Mr Musila said the only other option that the KACC Director has was, he should do the President a favour and resign and allow Ken­yans to select a person who is going to help this coun­try move forward in the fight against corruption.

Tanathi undertakes new dam and
enhancement of Yatta Canal
Tanathi Water Services Board is spending Sh. 2billion to improve water supply in Yatta District.
The project will erect a dam and re­fur­bish the Yatta Canal to ensure maxi­mum use and re­tention of water to serve citizens through out the year.
Tanathi Chief Executive Officer En­gi­neer Mutuku Nzesya told our reporters that the board is joining hands with the Af­ri­can Development Bank (ADB) and the Gov­ernment to raise the required money.
The project's objectives include con­structing a dam at Mavoloni along the Thika River to impound 8 billion liters of water annually.
The dam will cover an area of 1000 acres that the Tanathi is buying from Mavoloni Farmers' Company and will effectively compensate the affected families.
This will ensure that most of flood wa­ter along the river that goes to waste each rainy season is impounded for eco­nomic ac­tivity within the Yatta Plateau.
The dam will mitigate effects of the ex­isting obstruction of the river by mul­ti­na­tionals operating within the area and ensure maxi­mum utilization of wa­ter along the river.
Currently, the Yatta Canal which op­erates for only five months each year has dried up and residents are suffering to find a live­lihood.
The 62km canal will also be concreted along its walls minimize water seepage which is currently accounts for 60 per­cent of the water. Once the lining is complete, water is estimated to flow fur­ther down­stream and serve all year round.
The Yatta furrow currently irri­gates an area of 200 acres. It is projected to irri­gate 2000 acres of land once the up­grading works are over.
Mr Nzesya said the Tanathi project will also construct a water treatment plant with a capacity of 6 ½ million liters of water per day.
It will also construct the water dis­tri­bution network for Matuu and Kithimani townships, running for about 45 ki­lo­me­ters. Another water dis­tri­bution net­work will be built to Ndalani and Kanyoonyoo, covering another distance of 30 kilometers. This will bring the total pipe­line network to 75 ki­lo­me­ters.
Moreover, the construction of a sew­erage system for Matuu and Kithimani is planned to be undertaken in the project.
The project is targeting to serve and im­prove the lives of 188.000 people and serve 13,500 livestock.
Currently revenue from the Yatta Canal is in the range of Sh. 660 million annually. It is projected that residents will gen­erate over Sh. 2 billion each year once the project is completed in the next two and a half years.
The shame of KMC's off-take plan

THE Kenya Meat Commission's Off-Take cattle programme is en­during trouble following the death of close to 2,000 cattle
This is an indication of how un­co­or­di­nated the project has been since it was launched over five months ago.
Scenes from Mavoko in recent days have jolted meat lovers to the re­ality that the meat they may be eating may well belong to the car­casses they have been seeing on Television.
Livestock Development minister Mohammed Kuti toured the holding ground belonging to the East African Portland Cement described it as an ex­tremely ugly, dis­turbing scene.
Grand irrigation plan for Kibwezi
Minister of Water and Irrigation Charity Kaluki Ngilu has assured Kibwezi and Makindu resi­dents that days of relief food ™Mwolyo∫ are now numbered , and sent a grave warning to Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to keep off water projects in the entire country .
In her working tour of Kibwezi and Makindu ,Mrs. Ngilu said each official in the current government had a clear re­spon­si­bility and said each of them should carry out one's duties without meddling with other people's dock­ets.
She said her ministry through Tanathi Water Services Board and other organs of the min­is­try created under the Water Reform Sector were responsible for water provision and no one should traverse the country claiming he has plans for water when that is not true.
Mr Musyoka has been claiming that his Ka­lonzo Musyoka Foundation would build 1,000 dams in Ukambani and those who know the state of funds at the foundation are ques­tioning the authenticity of the claims.
Skeptics of the VP believe that his remarks are aimed at taking advantage of what the ministry is doing so that he can also claim credit in the provision of water in Ukambani which looks more likely now than ever be­fore.
Mrs Ngilu has been quick to question
In contention has been the re­fur­bishment of Maruba Dam in Macha­kos that Mrs Ngilu has cham­pi­oned and ensured it is done. The VP's brigade, led by Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka has been claiming credit to the project and a speaker at a forum addressed by the VP recently urged him to ensure that President Mwai Kibaki in­au­gu­rates the project, and not Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Sources knowing the politics behind water say Mrs Ngilu will herself in­au­gu­rate the project at a date to be set, underlining the fact that she will not be pushed by anyone in running affairs of the ministry.
Speaking in Kibwezi days after a botched trip by the VP where reports indicated he would launch an irrigation project, Mrs Ngilu said her ministry is spending Sh 8 billion to irri­gate 30,000acres of land by 2015 towards pov­erty alleviation and creation of jobs to the youth.
Ngilu said the current government has failed to feed a population of 30 million people while a country like India has a population of about 1.5 billion and the country is able to feed its people.
She said it is demeaning for our people to be given two to three kilos of maize on monthly basis while given water the resi­dents can be productive.
Some of the irrigation programmes to benefit from the Kitty are Kake irri­gation project at Kwachai Kibwezi which will receive 428 million shillings and Masimbani irrigation scheme/Mboosoni at Masongaleni which will get 468 million .
Minister Ngilu instructed the D.C Kibwezi and Makindu to ensure fair rep­re­sen­tation on youth and groups of women who will benefit from this programme on Kazi kwa Vijana to be taken from all villages.
She said leaders in that area and other parts of Ukambani are burying their heads in the sand as pertains to this issue while billions of shillings from hotels at Tsavo west and East go to Coast province while councils like Mtito-Andei is closing down due to fi­nan­cial crises . Revenue from most of the hotels in the Tsavo con­ser­vation area and Mzima springs the major source of water for the Coast region is paid to Taita area be­lieved to be in Ukambani.
Women face
breach of peace
charges
FIVE women from Mwitika location in Mutitu District have been charged in a Ki­tui law court with causing dis­tur­bance in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace. However, the accused Kavii Mathenge, Ndanu Kyalo, Kongu Lombe, Kalunda Nzuki and Mwathi Kimanzi de­nied the charges before the Kitui Senior Resi­dent Magistrate, Mrs.Eizabeth Juma Osoro. The magistrate released them on Sh 8,000 bond each.
The five were arrested at the Sombe mar­ket in Sombe location, Mutitu District on August 21, 2009 at 7AM by the Mutitu OCS, Police Inspector J.Kiptoo. They are said to be pro­testing against the move to deny Mutitu Market be­coming the head­quar­ters of the newly created Mutitu District. Majority of the resi­dents need Sombe market to be the district's head­quar­ters.
The five women have been released from the Kitui GK Prison's remand after having spent five days in the remand. Their Mem­ber of Par­liament Julius Kiema Kilonzo mobilised his councilors who went together with the local Constituency De­vel­opment Fund (CDF) sec­re­tary Mutavanya Mutia and busi­nessman Duncan Singi to pay the bonds for the accused.
The accused's case will be mentioned on Sep­tem­ber 4, 2009.The councilors were John Mang'uye, who also is the Chairman of the Kitui County Council, Simon Kombo, Billy Mativo Kilonzi, James Mumo Mutio and Josephine Matulu.

56 primary schools looped in feeding programme

56 primary schools in Machakos, Kathiani and Athi River districts are set to benefit from the school feeding program. This declaration was done at the Annual General Meeting of education stake­holders conducted in Machakos town at the District Commissioner's office. The school feeding program dubbed The Homegrown Program is set to feed than 5,000 school going chil­dren.
Besides, the government is giving Sh 60 million for the construction of one sec­ondary school which will serve as a Centre for Ex­cellency in the region and another Sh 14 million for the con­struction of four primary schools.
On the other hand in a bid to curb the looming drought and hunger in the region the government is availing Sh 2.4 million for tree planting projects in 40 schools in Athi River and Machakos.
All this is being done to ensure that the education system in Kenya is upgraded and school going children get the best out of the money allocated to the department.
Who will protect teacher's money?
Looting spree goes on as Plaza borrows Sh 20m
Members of Mwalimu Plaza are won­dering where the proceeds from their in­vestment go and neither do they know who to turn to.
They have known from ex­pe­rience from Masaku Teachers Sacco that reports In­quiry by the Commissioner of Co-op­eratives do not matter.
Since the report of inquiry was pub­lished, members have not benefitted from its rec­ommen­dations despite the reality that the report implicated who is who in the Sacco and the Top guns in the KNUT Macha­kos branch. Their building (Plaza) earns them Sh 280,000 monthly rent which is gobbled up by the financial can­cer afflicting the Sacco.
Sources say Sacco has pre-paid its rent upto July 2010 as they repay a loan of Sh 20m that the Plaza team took from In­dus­trial Development Bank.
The Sacco management used Sh 6 million to buy land to construct a mortuary at Kibwezi who donated the land to the Plaza only to be informed later that the land belongs to the Kenya Forest Service.
The managers of the plaza with­drew Sh 400,000 from the Saccos most abused Account 8157 and approached a teacher who agreed to sale them a plot at Kibarani area at a cost of 70,000/= the rest of the money has never been accounted for and no one asks for it.
The borrowed Sh20million was to fund the construction of the mortuary. The cash was borrowed without the approval of plaza members. But the con­struction is near completion. Mr. J Katolo a Branch Ex­ecutive Committee member from Kibwezi complained bitterly at a meeting, saying that no tendering was done to supply materials for the con­struction.
Recently, Sacco General Manager Stanley Kyelenzi wrote to IDB, informing them not to worry about delay in the repayment of the loan and added that the Masaku Teachers Sacco would pay, even if the Plaza was unable to. This letter has caused an uproar at the Sacco as it amounts to monumental liability by the Sacco even when its members have not passed a resolution to that effect. This is notwithstanding the reality that the Sacco itself is immersed in debt to insolvency levels.
The managers took another Sh 2.8million to purchase two vehicles to be used as Hearse in June 2008 and the vehicles have been operational since. Two weeks ago, the management confiscated the ve­hicles claiming that money generated does not reach management.
After investigations, the managers claim vehicles had made a loss of 2,000.
As we went to press, the Hearses were released to their base (Makindu), the only noticeable change being the employment of two new drivers. Teachers are waiting to see whether the change of drivers of the two Hearses will bring any meaningful change that may generate there divi­dends.
Mismanagement of the project has led to the dismissal of the plaza, chairman Mr. Patrick Mutisya and his secretary Mr. Kikumu. Interestingly, the Treasurer who should have been handling the money was spared and remained in office. He has been accused of embezzlement of funds and the Sacco report of inquiry had im­pli­cated him to have misused over 9 million.
The managers come calling and re­quested for more funds amounting to 800,000/= from Sacco to complete a section of post mortem unit. The money was advanced to them and the section has been com­pleted.
However the opening of the mortuary is uncertain after NEMA questioned its lo­cation, based on the absence of an En­vi­ron­men­tal Impact Assessment report on the surrounding areas.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that NEMA has raised questions on the suitability of the mortuary in a village and again there is a boarding primary school next to it.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that the management is working with the pro­vin­cial administration in Makueni to plead with NEMA to issue authorization.
Seek loans from Disabled Fund, official appeals
THE disabled persons in Kenya have been called upon to wisely use the facilities given to them by the gov­ernment for the intended purposes so as to get more assistance from the government.
The call was made in Kitui District by the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya (NFDK) Properties Manager, Mrs. Joyce M. Kitavi. The manager at the same time asked them to be proud of their country. She told the disabled that the fund in the country for their sake. She asked the beneficiaries not to sell or exchange the facilities they are awarded by the fund. Kitavi advised them to initiate businesses in order to be self reliant.
The parastatal official was speaking at the Kitui District Commissioner Joshua K. Chepchieng's office after officially donating machinery worth Sh146,056 to some eleven local disabled persons.
She further donated Sh100,000 to some local disabled persons' in­sti­tutions. The machinery include sewing machines, ploughs, knitting machines and wheelchairs. The eleven beneficiaries are among hundreds of others from across Kenya who had applied for the support from the fund.
Kitavi told the disabled in the country: ™Our aim is to make you to be self reliant. Disability is not inability. You are part of us and we like you very much.∫ She asked them not to feel they are neglected in the society and she further appealed to them to tell other people with disabilities about the NFDK to benefit from the fund.
Machakos Water
boss replaced
The Managing Director of the Machakos Water Company Mr Kitavi has been shown the door. Mr Kitavi was asked to vacate the office under the supervision of the Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr Bernard Kamba.
He departure follows an advertisement that was done some months ago calling for applications for the post of Managing Director for the company, among many others.
Mr Kitavi has hardly served in Machakos for five months after he relocated from Makindu Water Company where he left under acrimonious circumstances. It remained unclear why he was shown the door in Machakos although workers spoke of a difficult relationship between him and also board members.
Bank sources said the board wrote to close their accounts to ensure no withdrawals were made until change of signatures were effected. Staff said the last disagreement with them was over a salary rationalization plan that had been agreed upon that the MD allegedly reneged on
Panic as Yatta
Canal dries up
Lives of more than 299,000 residents of the Yatta plateau are at stake after their only lifeline the Yatta Canal dried up.
The 60Km canal which was constructed by maumau detainees in the colonial era has been lifeline for residents for irri­gation apart from other water needs since the settlement on the plateau more than fifty years ago.
Many residents interviewed said since the canal dried up ago, they were forced to trek for long distances to look for water both for their needs and that of their live­stock.
According to the affected residents, the drought is the first one of its kind since none has ever been witnessed before to leave the canal dry.
Most of them who used to lead com­fortable life from the proceeds of irri­gation farming have now turned into other means including relief food for sur­vival.
Consequently, the drought has also affected fruits and vegetable traders at the famous Kithimani trading centre on the Thika/Garissa highway where there used to be a booming hawking business to motorists.The traders who depended on the canal for cheaper fruits are now forced to im­port the same from Thika,Nairobi and Embu at very ex­or­bi­tant prices with minimal prof­its.
The intensive tour on the canal by jour­nalists revealed that its source, the Thika River was drying up,with the intake level normally at three and a half metres to fall up to 0.5 metres thus making the little water entering the canal through the intake not to flow any further.
The drought has reduced the Thika River into a rocky path forcing the water crea­tures like hippos and crodiles to imigrate to the adjacent Athi-river for sur­vival.
However, further investigations revealed that despite the persisted drought, the river's water level had been adversely affected by intensive farming by a pine­apple growing company near Thika by the name Delmonte(K)Ltd which uses ex­cess water from the river.
AEO's role in theft of cash
Story of how officials stole FPE cash for Ngelani Primary
MORE details are emerging over the rot at Ngelani Primary School, with parents vol­un­teering more leads indicating that the theft is widespread.
A new lead regards a cheque from the Ken­yan government under the Free Pri­mary Edu­cation (FPE) Simba Account (current account).
The government erroneously sent two cheques to Ngelani Ranch Primary School, Athi River one of which belonged to Ngelani Pri­mary School, Central Division worth Sh. 200,000.
Mr. J. Kavoo the Head teacher of Ngelani Pri­mary (Central) at the time had it diffi­cult to explain to stakeholders of the school that the school had not gotten its share of FPE allocation. The parents could not hear of it and they forced him out of the school via a transfer. In came Mr. Kaloki who vowed to follow the allocation of the school from the gov­ernment through the Ministry of Edu­cation and true to his vow, he traced the cheque and found it at Ngelani Ranch Primary school which had double FPE Allo­cation that year.It had to write a cheque to Ngelani Primary School.
Mr. Kiilu the Head teacher Ngelani Ranch was instructed by AEO Athi River to take the cheque to his office which he com­plied. By now the cheque had 2 signatures; one for the Chairman and the other one for the Trea­surer. Mr. Kiilu could not sign the cheque since he was newly posted to the school and new signatories had not been effected. The former Head teacher Ngelani Ranch Mr. Kithuka was the rightful signatory and thus he had to be called in from his current station Kathese Primary School to come and append his signature.
The Athi River Division Education Officer called Mr. Kithuka to come to his office to sign the cheque. Unfortunately Mr. Kithuka had urgent matters to attend and thus he didn't make it the day he had been summoned to the office.
Mr. Kaloki, was given the cheque by the AEO in the com­pany of a Knut offi­cial who is a mem­ber of the Branch Ex­ecutive Committee, who gave Sh. 2,000 to the AEO, who in turn gave them the cell num­ber of Mr. Kithuka, whom they called immediately and all agreed to meet at Kivutini Shopping Centre where the third signature was appended by Mr. Kithuka.
The money never reached the school and it is not clear who cashed the cheque. Sources say an edu­cation officer was key to the theft and he has been using his office or cash to stop the CID from getting to the root of the matter. Observers see this as a simple in­ves­ti­gation if the CID, the DEO and the DEB want the matter sorted out once and for all.
The cheque has now been traced and found to have been cashed at Family Bank Macha­kos. It went to the bank via a bro­ker who had paid the cash to officials- so Ngelani Primary School in Central Division can be sure to wait for a long, long time be­fore this matter is re­solved. As we went to press, our sources indicated that Sh 180,000 was de­pos­ited by known individuals to the school's account at KCB Machakos Branch on hearing that The Anchor was following the story.The deposit slip, we established, was rushed to the DE©s office to forestall the release of a letter for action the theft. The DEO, Mrs Abdikadir Ali delined to comment over the matter. But sources in the office indicated that Mr Ali was clearly disturbed over the matter."He keeps on calling officials, demanding that the matter be resolved before he gets invloved", said an official who pleaded to remain un named.
Indeed, this theft is an indication of how FPE funds can be stolen and put to the wrong use. In brief, an Education Officer is key to the riddle of the missing school funds, yet the DEO's office pretends that these facts are not known to them. It shows how im­pu­nity is spreading deep in the lives of Kenyans. Observers are asking what action is the Min­is­try of Education taking to this no­to­rious officer who has been men­tioned adversely in running down of government funds?
Worse still, the very same officer was at the Centre of the Katoloni Primary Saga that to date has not been solved despite the fact that there is proof in the form of an audit report that money was mis­appro­priated.
The same officer again this year had rented the Central Tac Hall for Sunday Service to a town church with full connivance with edu­cation officials and nothing was done about it.
He was also at the centre of collection of ille­gal fees that was purported to be in­tended to restructure a new office for the DEO Mr Abdulkadir Ali, which the min­is­try halted af­ter The Anchor and the Machakos Residents Asso­ciation raised objections to the illegal collections. The DEO has already relocated. It has also emerged that the DEO was moving due to dangerous cracks that have emerged on the Masaku County Hall block that has historically housed the DEO
Recently, The Anchor was told, the officer was verbally reprimanded by the DEO for so­lic­iting funds claiming that he had been sent to collect the funds on his bosses' behalf.
He is adversely mentioned in the Masaku Teachers Sacco to have acquired a loan worth 1.5m which he has defaulted its payment.
His name is also featuring in Katani Pri­mary School where a key Knut official in Machakos teaches and where parents chased away the head teacher and his deputy over alleged theft of school funds. In particular, the parents are questioning the use of approximately Sh 2.1m, which was a donation from OPEC.
Education officials who spoke to our re­porter says that the rot in the education sector in Machakos is so intense that what The Anchor reports is just a tip of the ice­berg.
So who are the names and faces behind these ridiculous events in Education in Machakos? . Stay Anchored!
Kitui Adult learners clock 5,000 mark
The area District Adult Education Officer, Mr William Mwongela Kimeu said Yatta division was leading in the district with 1,191 women and 292 men, followed by the Central division with 960 women and 636 men and the Kyuluni division being in the third position with 377 women and 43 men.
The fourth is the Mwitika division with a total of 355 women and 57 men, followed by the Mutitu division with 291 women and 63 men. In total, the five divisions have some 4,190 learners. Kimeu said that he had no compilation of the figures of the Matinyani and Mutonguni divisions.
The Matinyani District Officer, Mrs. Teresia Mburu, was the chief guest at the function where she read the Edu­cation Minister Professor Sam K.Ongeri's speech. Kimeu said that the area has eight Community Learning Resource Centres and added that the gov­ernment has plans to construct more centres in the area. He thanked the local women for having been leading in the adult education there always. And he challenged the men to emulate them.
The DAEO congratulated the learners in Yatta division for leading in the district for the fourth year consecutively under the good leadership of their Divisional Adult Education Supervisor Vincent Kioko.
Kimeu said that the illiterate should not cheat themselves that they can progress themselves education without joining the adult education classes. He said that the learning is important for the so­ci­ety and the nation. ™It is your right to learn. It is your right to acquire skills through edu­cation,∫ the officer told the adult edu­cation learners.
On her part, the DO stressed the im­por­tance of adult education and asked those who had not joined the programme in the district to do so. She at the same time said that the gov­ernment had banned charcoal burning, transportation and mar­keting in Kitui District. She asked the public to report any culprit to the relevant au­thorities including the police and lo­cation chiefs for legal action. Other speakers included the local District Youth Affairs Officer Mutisya Muindi.
Women lead men in Adult Education in Kangundo, Matungulu
It was excitement and pomp , at Tala Township Primary School grounds during the world lit­eracy Day in Matungulu Dis­trict for more than 1000 adults learners who have reg­is­tered from both Kangundo and Ma­tun­gulu Districts when they come to­gether to celebrate the International Lit­eracy Day.
The adult learners who have been per­forming well in their classes were re­warded with tro­phies and certificates.
Most learners in the Adult Literacy Programme are aged between 20, 60 and 70 years.
They include ordinary youths, business people, farmers and housewives.
According to the Kangundo District Adult Education Officer.Mr Charles King'ori, Adult Education's mission is to eradicate illit­eracy and promote life-long learning among adults and out of school. Mr Kingo'ri, says each Dis­trict has su­per­visors, fulltime teachers who work under self help basis .He adds that men and women's attend classes for the three hours be­tween 2pm and 6 pm everyday. He said women in both districts do better in pro­fi­ciency tests because they are patient and hardworking, but men are different be­cause often skip classes .This explains why there are more women than men in the programme, he says.
Mr Muli Mutua from Matungulu, an Adult learner, says ™I drop away from classes be­cause I didn't want to be known that I was illiterate .I felt very shy because people will believe I had gone to school late in my life, he says.
Mrs Mary Nduku,76, an adult learner in Kan­gundo ,says she wants to know how to read and write. This will help me to keep records of the business I do and avoid being misled by those who know how to keep records.
Mrs Eliza­beth Kalondu,74, an adult learner at Matungulu, says she joined adult lit­eracy classes because she was unable to read and write for herself.
.
EDITORIALS
A lesson for President Kibaki
UPON the launch of The Anchor, we did state that one of our key objectives is the enhancement of good gov­er­nance in Kenya
It is our belief that one of the foundations upon which good governance can thrive is the protection of Human Rights and the enjoyment of basic free­doms for our citi­zens. Such free­doms as free expression, Freedom of Association and Freedom of Information are so crucial to humanity as they seek to ensure that justice thrives for the betterment f all.
There is no doubt whatsoever that in order to enhance good governance, proper structures of government must be en­forced to ensure checks and balances so as to tame the excesses of those at the helm. We believe thus that the three arms of Government- the Ex­ecutive, the Legislature and the Judiciary must carry out their mandate without undue overlap, so that in the usual checks function, none of them overruns the role o the other or even the rights of citizens.
In the last few weeks, Kenyans have witnessed an un­prec­edented war between the three arms of gov­ernment over the appointment of Justice Aaron Ringera to head the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission(KACC) for another term, along with his two adjutants Dr Smokin Wanjala and Fatuma Sichale.
The War stemmed from the re-appointment of the trio by President Mwai Kibaki without going through the process set out by the law for the holders of those positions. A plan was even mooted to send parliament on recess as soon as the appointments were done, in the hope that the matter would die. Luckily, Parliament refused to be sent on recess so as to deal with what in our view was a clear over­in­dul­gence of the Ex­ecutive. In exercise of the check and balances function, MPs overturned the Presidential overlap. Dr Wanjala soon quit his job.
As they debated in the committees and the chamber, MPs expressed themselves freely and with courage, if only to spare this country a brazen miscarriage of pro­ce­dure by non other than the President himself.We have said it on this column, and we wish, for the record, to do it again: That this is not the Kenya of yes­ter­years. Be­sides, Kenyans still believe very well that the results of the last election were stolen and that the government in place is not what they elected in the 2007 election.
The clamour for justice over post election violence is far from over. The citizens' wailing over impunity is yet to be addressed. The spirit upon which a coa­lition gov­ernment was founded, giving Mr Kibaki a sem­blance of legitimacy as president is certainly on the cards here. Clearly and sadly, the re- appointments jog the memo­ries of citizens that there is an obtrusive disconnect between them and their president.
It has been said that the Nation of Kenya needs a healing process so as to overcome the injustices of the past. But this mind frame can not be enhanced when the per­son who ought to be kingpin in the process is dancing to some musing only he is hearing.
It is our contention that we as Kenyans need to read from the same script when it comes to issues that de­fine our na­tionhood. Such issues relate to reversing the ad­vancement of poverty, protection of our en­vi­ronment, the Rule of Law, the respect of Human Rights and en­joyment of fundamental freedoms.
Therefore we take this opportunity to thank the leg­is­lators who stood up to the executive so as to change the course of history in our country. Mr Kibaki and future presidents of Kenya must know that things have changed for ever and citizens of this country are determined to exercise their fun­da­men­tal freedoms to fight for their rights. That is the way to the future.
Dr Munyaka and his militia
Recently as Ag­ri­cul­ture Minster William Ruto and water and Irrigation Min­is­ter Charity Ngilu assembled in Macha­kos to ex­plain their re­spective min­is­tries agenda for the region, Macha­kos Town MP Dr Victor Munyaka was con­scripting a mi­li­tia to disrupt the meeting.
The reason is that as MP for Macha­kos Town, he had not been informed of the meeting. Dr Munyaka was elected in 2007 with a slogan-Muvango Muvangoni( a plan within a plan). It now tran­spires, following the events of the day, that a Mivango Militia was assembled and paid some 200 shillings to disrupt the meeting that hundreds of farmers attended.
How would they have done it? The brief was to heckle speakers and if possible scatter those at the meeting. Unavoidably, it would have resulted in violence and a disruption of the peace. Police never arrested anyone and the MP was not questioned over the matter either. At a time when the country is seeking to punish per­pe­trators of post election violence, it is un­be­lievable that a young and educated MP like Dr Victor Kioko Munyaka aka Muvango Muvangoni would want to con­struct his road to infamy- call it the Hague- by assem­bling young men like him to cause mayhem.
What honourable people do especially in cir­cum­stances where your adversaries organise a successful meeting is to keep off the meetings or, better still, emerge at the assembly with su­pe­rior ideas.
MPs have the `Honourable' tag prefixed on their names. Honourable people need not do horrible things. What honour is there for those who do not deserve it?
Why Ringera team must face new
vetting to stay on as KACC bosses
The controversy surrounding the re-appointment of Justice Aaron Ringera as Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, as well as that of Smokin Wanjala and Fatuma Sichale as Assistant Commissioners turns on the correct interpretation of the pro­visions of section 8(4) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and paragraph 3 of the First Schedule to the Act. The pro­visions are set out in full be­low:
Section 8 provides:
(3) The Director and Assis­tant Di­rectors shall be per­sons rec­ommended by the Ad­vi­sory Board and approved by the Na­tional Assem­bly for appointment to their re­spective po­sitions.(4) On the approval of a person by the National Assem­bly under sub­section (3), the Presi­dent shall appoint the person con­cerned to the office in respect of which the approval was given.
And paragraph 3(1) of the First Sched­ule provides:
The term of office of the Director or an Assistant Director shall be five years: Provided that an Assis­tant Di­rector may be appointed for a term of four years to avoid having the Assis­tant Director's term expire on or around the time the Director's term ex­pires.
The Minister for Justice and the KACC have both argued that as this is a re­newal of an existing appointment, there is no need for a parliamentary approval. Such an approval is only nec­essary when considering a fresh appointment. There are two main diffi­culties to the argument by the Minister and the KACC. First, one of the assis­tant directors, Perminus Mutonyi, served a full term of four years and came up for renewal was subjected to par­lia­men­tary approval, which is some­how now being dis­pensed with. The question is: why treat the others differently from the way Mutonyi was treated?
The argument might be advanced that Mutonyi served a full term, left the Commission and was recruited afresh from home, which is why he had to be interviewed competitively and had then to undergo the scru­tiny of par­liament. This ar­gument is not con­vincing. At the time of appointment, each commissioner gets a defined term of office. This term cannot be abridged by a fresh appointment, and any subsequent appointment can only start after the existing appointment ends.
Secondly, it is not disputed that the Presi­dent acting alone cannot make a first appointment to any of the po­sitions in the KACC. The presi­dent has to work in concert with the Na­tional Assembly which approves such appoints, and the Advisory Committee, which starts the process of appointment. Section 8(4) clearly identifies the President as the per­son who makes an original appointment and the National assem­bly as the or­gan that approves such per­sons for appointment by the President. In con­trast, the pro­visions of the First Sched­ule do not expressly state whose responsibility it is to renew the term of office through a re-appointment. The question then is, on what basis was it assumed that it is the President and not, for ex­ample, the Ad­vi­sory Board or the National Assem­bly whose role it is to re­new an appointment under this pro­vision? Since it is not clarified who should make the appointment under this provision, the only fair conclusion has to be that it is all the players in the appointment pro­cess who have to come together in order to make the appointment. If it is objectionable for the Na­tional Assem­bly or the Ad­vi­sory Board acting alone to make an appointment under this pro­vision, it has to be equally ob­jec­tionable for the Presi­dent acting alone to renew an appointment under the Act.
The Ugandan Position
Uganda had to deal with exactly the same problem in relation to the re­newal of the term of office for the Inspector General of Government, as that pre­sented by the re-appointment of the Directors of the KACC. The provisions establishing the office of the Inspector General of Gov­ernment are found un­der section 223 (4) and (7) of the Con­sti­tution of Uganda and are set out below:(4) The Inspector General of Gov­ernment and a Deputy Inspector General shall be appointed by the Presi­dent with the approval of Par­liament and shall not, while holding office, hold any other office of emolument in the public service.(7) The Inspector General of Government and Deputy In­spectors General shall hold office for a term of four years but shall be eligible for re­appointment only once.
The first term of office for Inspector General of Government, Justice Faith Mwondha ended in April 2009 to­gether with that of the Deputy In­spector, Raphael Baku. Whereas Baku accepted to be subjected to a fresh scrutiny by parliamentary Appointments Committee, Justice Mwondha objected to this, claiming that it was un­con­sti­tu­tional. Baku was sub­se­quently cleared and started on his second term, but Justice Mwondha held out.
In April 2009, 22 citizens filed a pe­tition in the Constitutional Court1 seeking a declaration that Justice Mwondha was exempt form a fresh scrutiny for her sec­ond term. Presi­dent Yoweri Museveni, who supported the view, held by Justice Mwondha that she did not need a second scrutiny filed an affi­da­vit in the suit supporting this position. The Attorney General, Dr Khiddu Mabukaya, had however provided a legal opinion advising that a fresh scrutiny was a re­quirement of the Constitution. In filing the affidavit, the President went against legal advice.
The 22 petitioners applied to the court seeking various declarations which were crystallized into one issue, namely:
™Whether or not the re-appointment of the Inspector General of Gov­ernment (IGG) and Deputy IGG requires Par­lia­men­tary approval in order for them to serve their re­spective second term and last terms of office under Article 223 (7) of the Constitution.∫
The following are the facts as summa­rized by the court in its judgement. On 23n February 2005, the President of Uganda appointed Hon. Lady Justice Faith Mwondha, as In­spector General of Government (IGG) in accordance with Article 223 (4) of the Constitution, with the approval of Par­liament. Before the constitutional term of 4(four) years ended, which was due to expire on 23 Feb­ruary 2009, the President signed an instrument of appointment on 12 February 2009 re­newing her contract as IGG. By a letter dated 13 February 2009, the Principal Private Secretary to the President wrote to the Head of Public Service for­warding this in­strument for his further man­agement.
On 22 April 2009, the petitioners filed the petition under discussion here which was amended on 8 May 2009. At the scheduling conference and in court, the issue re­mained whether or not the reappointment of the 1GG and Deputy IGG requires parliamentary approval in or­der for them to serve their respective second and last terms of office under Article 223 (7) of the Constitution.
The arguments advanced to the court for the pe­ti­tioners were that there was no requirement for the IGG and Deputy IGG to appear before Parliament for approval for their second and last term of office. The acts of the President, the relevant officers and relevant in­sti­tutions to wit the Attorney General, the Head of Public Service, Clerk to Parliament, the Appointments Committee of Par­liament were unconstitutional and that article 253(1) was inapplicable and that this pro­vision only applies to an officer who has vacated office.
In a unanimous decision, the Con­sti­tu­tional Court (Justices Mpagi Bahigeine, George Engwau, Christine Kitumba, Constance Byamugisha and Augustine Nshimye) in July 2009, dis­missed the suit and held that Jus­tice Mwondha had to undergo a fresh scru­tiny for her second term.
The Court provided the rationale for its de­cision as follows:
In interpreting the constitutional pro­visions we are alive to the following guidelines, namely:
a) That the constitution is the Su­preme law of the land.
b) All provisions relevant to an issue are to be brought into perspective to give effect to or not to derogate from the in­tention of the Con­sti­tution.
c) The method of in­ter­pre­tation is an open-ended process. It explores and attaches sig­nifi­cance to every word or clause and the grammar in relation to the whole context; the court searches for the exact meaning of words and use of terms.
d) The Constitution is in­ter­preted in the con­text that exists at the time and when not it was passed. Oth­er­wise it will cease to take into account the growth of the society which it seeks to regulate.
e) The purpose and effect of the provisions is relevant in de­ter­mining constitutionality
The court then came to the following finding: "Having regard to the foregoing prin­ciples of interpretation, more par­ticu­larly (b), we find the in­evi­table and in­es­capable con­clusion to be that par­lia­men­tary approval is a con­sti­tu­tional re­quirement under ar­ticle 223(4) for the IGG and Deputy. IGG to serve their re­spective second terms in office under article 223 (7). Were we to hold otherwise we would be strongly at variance with the spirit of the Constitution."The Court therefore dis­missed the suit with costs.
Conclusion
The authorities are clear that a person whose appointment is subject to the approval of the leg­is­la­ture must seek and obtain such approval even in respect of the renewal of the appointment.
Environmental project in Kalundu makes a mark in fight against poverty
THE Kalundu/Nzeeu Environmental Con­ser­vation Project of the Central di­vision, Kitui District is alleviating the poverty through environmental pro­tection.
The project's chairperson, Mrs. Chris­tine Wanzuu Katiwa, further said that what they are doing in the Central di­vision is helping the whole Kitui District, the whole Kenya , the whole Africa and the whole world.
She said that the project was started in the year 2007 and that it is an umbrella organisation for 54 self-help groups from all the 12 locations of the Cen­tral di­vision, Kitui District. Katiwa said that the 54 groups do among others pro­tect forests, goat rearing, rivers protection, bee-keeping, bricks making and sisal pro­duction.
The chairperson said: ™Some 1,540 adults (90 percent being women) and 40 youths are direct ben­efi­cia­ries from the project.
Those benefiting indirectly from the project are 40,000 people. The gov­ernment on its part benefits from the project through improved forest cover and improved food security.∫ She added that the local gov­ernment ben­efits from the project through im­proved water supply and schools. The project chairperson was speaking to the project's 1,524 mem­bers during their first annual general meeting held at the Kitui Agricultural Training Cen­tre.
Katiwa said that their project com­prises of six networks and one commu­nity based or­ga­ni­zation. She said that the whole commu­nity within the Kalundu and Nzeeu Rivers in­cluding the Kitui town benefits from the project. She said that the dis­ad­van­taged groups also benefit from the project.
Among those disadvantaged groups are the widows, orphans, those afflicted by the HIV/AIDS, the physically and visually impaired and single women/men headed households.
Now Mutula seeks probe onCDF use at Kalawa Girls
A CABINET minister has called on the CDF National Secretariat Chief Ex­ecutive Officer to investigate a CDF funded project in his Mbooni constituency.Justice min­is­ter Mutula Kilonzo ex­pressed his dis­appointment with the implementation of Kalawa Girls sec­ondary school which has so far taken over kshs.6m.
I have personally visited the project and the complaints from the local stake­holders are legitimate from what I saw on the ground'', read the letter to the CEO re­questing the probe.
Mutula has since warned that those who will be found to have diverted the CDF funds will face the full face of the law.™I will not allow any­one charged with the responsibility of man­aging tax payers money to divert a single cent, not me sorry∫, he said.
The project referred to as a white el­ephant by the local community has been shrouded with controversy.Investigations by The Standard revealed that the con­tractor who has been on site 2003 has done very little and shoddily.Mutula's letter to the CDF Na­tional Secretariat followed numerous verbal and written com­plaints from the local stakeholders.Local resi­dents, the school ad­min­is­tration and ministry of public works officers are raising issues per­taining to use of CDF funds in the project.As the management con­tro­versy raged, the local ad­min­is­tration and education officials bowed to pressure to disband the former committee and allowed the residents to elect a new PMC on March 9,2009.But what baffled the stake­holders most is the withdrawal of more than kshs.1m by the `'sacked∫ PMC executive committee officials on March 19,2009.
`'We demand an explanation from the area Education Officer and the Mbooni District Development Officer as to why they authorised the withdrawal by sacked PMC members when they knew they had been replaced 10 days earlier and account sig­na­to­ries changed∫, said the stakeholders.They charged that the money withdrawn illegally cannot be accounted for, so are the funds with­drawn earlier before the replacement of the old committee, hence the need for a forensic probe.
At one point, the District Works Officer Makueni Mr. J.M. Weru warned the Project Management Committee (PMC) that his office will not get involved in the project if any works were carried without its input.
™For our future involvement in the project, the PMC should liase with the un­der­signed for further technical advise'', Weru said in a letter to the committee.
On his part the school principal Mr.John Kaloki wrote to Mutula supporting the in­ves­ti­gation, saying ™the local commu­nity is not pleased with the work so far done∫.
Incidentally, the last cheque was re­leased by Mutula himself days after the recipient committee had been axed.
Mbooni CDF causes MP headache
Mutula gave out Sh 1m cheque which swindlers shared
The Anchor exposed this mess several months ago. Today, corruption within Mbooni CDF has become Mutula Kilonzo's local headache.
When he handed the last cheque of Sh. 1,080,000 in March 2009 to the man­agement committee of Kalawa Girls, days after kicking out Former chairman Peter Mwanthi, little did Mutula know that not a single cent would go towards the project.
Those who know the saga say that Kalawa Girls saga was the driving force behind Mwanthi's removal, among other things. His accusers had claimed he had withheld the cheque, thus slowing down `de­vel­opment' in Mbooni. His ouster was sealed in March 12 2009. Days later, the ousted committee of Kalawa girls was at hand in Nairobi to receive the cheque that was cashed within hours thereafter and proceeds sunk in bottomless holes of im­pro­pri­ety and im­pu­nity.
Recently, Mutula announced that he will not allow more public funds to be allo­cated to projects in Kalawa di­vision till probe is contacted on several du­bious projects, and those who know the saga are saying the matter would not have been this bad had Mutula been hands on in Mbooni con­stituency. The minister who was furious and visibly annoyed made the surprise pro­nouncements before a huge public baraza at Katangini market Kalawa Di­vision, Mbooni East District at the end of a two day tour of development projects cum meet the people tour.
Minster Kilonzo who was accom­pa­nied by all the Mbooni constituency coun­cil­ors and the CDF committee through­out the two day tour met irate residents at the stalled Kalawa girls' secondary school project where about Ksh.7 million has been em­bezzled since 2003. Mr. James Munguti a school teacher together with Mr. Nason Manthi both of whom confessed were members of the former school's project management committee shocked the minister and the other leaders as they revealed that the Ksh.7 million was lit­erally ™eaten∫ without fear of God by the a con­tractor and an education offi­cial and former executive committee members who are local resi­dents.
The two alleged that the official collabo­rated with a local politician and the contractor by forging the other committee member's signatures to with­draw money from the bank. They pleaded with the Justice Minister to use his office and en­sure that the stolen millions are fully recovered and re­turned to develop the girls' school. ™Take the looters to the Hague∫ said Mr. Munguti.
The shaken minister informed the con­cerned residents that he has al­ready demanded full investigations into the matter from the National CDF Chief Ex­ecutive Officer.( see story on side bar) He promised to make sure any one found to have dipped their fin­gers into the projects kitty will surely be imprisoned.
As he toured the projects it emerged that some projects were irregularly allo­cated public funds to the tune of 6,500,000/= Mau drift was allocated Ksh.3,400,000/= Kalawa Girls Sec­ondary School 1,080,000/= Ngungi Primary School Ksh.680,000/= Ngungi Secondary School Ksh.470,000/= and Mbukoni Secondary School Ksh.480,000/=
The shocked residents and local leaders vowed to block payments to the con­tractors who were given the jobs straight by the CDF committee without regard to residents' prioratised projects which were forwarded to the CDF committee by the chiefs through the lo­cation development committees. At Thwake Secondary School, Mutula threat­ened to sack the public officer An­gela Sila for failing to inform him on time about the irregularities. Kilonzo as he responded to a request by nominated councilor Peter Mwanthi the immediate former CDF chairman asked residents to take charge of their own projects and said local business people be given first pri­ority when awarding contracts.
The leaders supported the minister on his move to bring to book crooked in­di­viduals who for many years have milked dry all public projects. One CDF member who said he was ashamed to be a member of a committee where some members are more equal than others.
Minister Kilonzo also announced that bur­sa­ries were meant for the needy poor and said people in gainful employment should not benefit.
ADVERTISER’S FEATURE

Tanathi WSB hits the ground running to provide water in arid region
TANATHI Water Services Board (TAWSB) is a State Corporation under the Min­is­try of Water and Irri­gation created under Section 51 of the Water Act, 2002.
It was created by Legal Notice No.69 dated 4th June, 2008, signed by Water and Irrigation Minister Mrs. C.K Ngilu. By Legal Notice No.68 dated 4th June , Kenya Gazette Supplement No.25), TAWSB was hived from Tana and Athi Water Services Boards, to be the eighth Water Services Board, created to bring about efficiency, economy and sustainability in the pro­vision of water and sewerage services in Kenya.
By this Notice, the Limits of Water Supply of the Athi Water Services Board were varied by removing the greater districts of Kajiado, Macha­kos, and Makueni.At the same time the Limits of Water Supply of the Tana Water Services Board were varied by removing the dis­tricts of Kitui, Mwingi and Kyuso.
Governance
TANATHI WSB has nine directors appointed by the Minister in charge of water affairs.The CEO, En­gi­neer Mutuku Nzesya sits in the Board as the secretary while the represantive from Inspector State Coorporation advices the Board. The Board is composed of the following:
Hon. Godfrey Ole Parsaoti ± Chairman
Margaret John ± Director
Charles M. Kiliku ± Director
Robert K. Saidimu ± Director
Florence N. Mutunga ± Director
Representative PS; Ministry of Water and Irrigation ± Alternate Di­rector
Represenative PS; Ministry of Fi­nance ± Alternate Director
Represenative PS; Inspector State Coorporation - Advisor
Representative PS; Ministry of Local Government ± Alternate Di­rector
TAWSB covers an area of 65,888 Km2 which is largely arid and semi arid and serves a population of over 4.3 million. It has the mandate of en­suring effi­cient and eco­nomical provision of water and sewerage services in its area of ju­ris­diction which includes thirty two administrative dis­tricts namely Kajiado Cen­tral, Kajiado North, Macha­kos, Mwala, Kan­gundo, Yatta, Lower Yatta, Loitoktok, Makueni, Kibwezi, Mbooni West, Mbooni East, Nzaui, Kitui West, Kitui Central, Mutomo, Mwingi Cen­tral, Mwingi West, Mwingi East, Kyuso, Nzambani, Mutitu, Tseikuru, Athi River, Ma­tun­gulu, Kilungu, Kathiani, Mukaa, Kathonzweni, Makindu, Masinga and Mumoni.
This ever growing number of districts is typically ASALs. Approxi­mately, 56 percent of residents of these districts live below poverty threshold of a dollar per day.
Population, Water and Sanitation Coverage
The population in 2008 in the region is approximately 4.1 million (1999 census projected at a growth rate of 2 percent per annum) and estimated to be 4. 5 million at the end of the plan period in 2013. Safe water coverage in the urban areas is estimated at 24.2 percent, meaning that about 80percent is without water coverage. It is not possible to estimate the safe sanitation coverage but it is generally agreed that the sanitation coverage is by far less than the safe water cov­erage. The coverage situation is very low and requires immediate attention through rehabilitation and augmentation to increase output and coverage of existing schemes.
Though there has been rehabilitation and augmentation of water and sanitation infrastructure, the pro­portion of non-served people still remain about the same mainly due to rapid population growth in urban settlements Since majority of the people live below the poverty line in the Board area, the focus on the poor is therefore important in order to increase water and basic sanitation coverage in these areas. Sustainability concerns in rural water supplies with its water points and small scale sys­tems require Re­dressing
Access to water services for both human and livestock in the rural areas is appallingly low at 38 percent- which is significantly below the national average of 42 percent. The situation is no better for the prin­ci­pal urban centres within the Board's area of jurisdiction which have di­lapi­dated infrastructure and all lack centralised waste water systems.
Accordingly, huge financial in­vestment is required to develop Water and Sewerage infrastructure in conformity with Kenya's Vision 2030 and the Millennium De­vel­opment Goals (MDGs)
Recently, the Board audited the entire physical infrastructure for all the 19 Water Service Providers to the utter realisation of the need to urgently invest Sh 9.8 billion to rehabilitate and augment the dilapidated in­fra­struc­ture to enable the WSPs meet the minimum service level defined by the Water Service Regu­latory Board.
TAWSB's core functions in­clude but not limited to: -
Efficient and eco­nomical pro­vision of water and sew­erage ser­vices in its area of ju­ris­diction
Development and man­agement of water and sew­erage assets.
Ownership and holding of wa­ter and sewerage in­fra­struc­ture &
Contracting Water Ser­vice Pro­viders and ensuring effi­cient and economical pro­vision of wa­ter and sew­erage ser­vices.
The Mission of TAWSB
™To ensure provision of po­table, reliable, affordable and sus­tainable water and sew­erage ser­vices to our cus­tomers in collabo­ration with Stake­holders through leasing, development, con­tinuous im­provement and ex­pansion of fa­cilities and con­tracting of competent Wa­ter Ser­vice Providers∫
The Vision of TAWSB
™To be the premier Water Services Board in the Af­ri­can region∫
Tanathi Water Services Board is committed to the values and prin­ciples of good cor­po­rate governance. The demand for good governance is in line with the water sector reforms, as outlined in the Na­tional De­vel­opment Goals and ar­ticu­lated in the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) for wealth and employment cre­ation (2003).
It has developed guidelines for good cor­po­rate governance. As a State Cor­po­ration, the Board's decisions are guided by the core tenets prescribed in the Public Officer's Ethics Act and in­ter­nal code of ethics which has been signed by all directors.
Tanathi to spend Sh 8.3 BILLIONS Key Wat-san projects
TAWSB has rolled out an am­bitious plan to increase wa­ter and sanitation access within its area of jurisdiction in the next five years as chronicled in the stra­te­gic plan 2008 - 2012.
It is note worthy that water access currently stands at 24% and 40% in rural and urban ar­eas respectively; which is be­low the national average of 46% and 65 % respectively. Whereas on-site sani­tation cov­erage is 85% in rural areas, the situation is deplorable in urban centre as only two out of the sixteen urban cen­ters have centralized waste water management systems.
The commitment for funding by the Af­ri­can Development Bank, (ADB) amounting to Ksh 4.2 Billion will enable the TAWSB to augment and re­ha­bili­tate Kitui Water Supply at a cost of Ksh 2.2 Billion and the balance amounting to Ksh 2 Billion would be channeled to the imple­men­tation of Yatta Wa­ter Supply and Sanitation Project.
Works for Kitui Water Supply and Sani­tation will involve con­struction of 9,000 M3/D treatment plant at Masinga dam, while an additional source will also be developed at Athi River of ca­pacity 6,500M3/D. A sew­erage sys­tem will also be developed for Ki­tui town consisting of sta­bi­li­zation ponds ca­pable of treating 5,000M3/D. Once fully imple­mented, the project will serve 262, 000 people living within the project corridor and Kitui town.
Yatta Water Supply and Sani­tation Project will involve construction of Yatta dam of storage capacity 10 Million M3 across Thika River, aug­men­tation of Matuu treatment works to 6500M3/D, construction of Matuu and Kithimani towns re­ticu­lation sys­tems, and a 76 km of 400 DN gravity main tra­versing the Yatta Plateau to serve the ru­ral population. Pipe borne sew­erage sys­tem shall also be de­vel­oped for Matuu and Kithimani town cluster. Also pri­ori­tized for re­ha­bili­tation is the concrete lining of the 60km earth Yatta Canal, to in­crease its operational efficiency as currently seepage accounts to 60% of the water losses. This will further increase land un­der irrigation to 600 Ha and thus en­hancing food security and poverty alle­viation through engagement in ag­ri­cul­ture and animal husbandry to 1806 small scale farmers. Generally, the project is targeting to serve 132,800 people.
The implementation of Phase 2 of Kiambere ±Mwingi Wa­ter Supply and Sani­tation project through a bilateral loan from the Italian Government, amounting to Ksh 1.2 Billion, en­tailing source works aug­men­tation from 3,250 M3/D to 8,500 M3/D, and pipe­line extension to newly created Dis­tricts of Kyuso, Tseikuru, Muumoni and Migwani. A cen­tralized waste water dis­posal and management sys­tem shall also be developed for both Mwingi and Kyuso towns. Proposed works are un­der detailed design and imple­men­tation is scheduled to begin May 2010.
Under the Kenya Italy Debt for De­vel­opment Programme, TAWSB will with effect from October 2009 implement the Ikanga ± Mutomo Water Supply at acost of Ksh 150 Million. The project scope in­volves bore holes whose yield is 60 M3/hr, 46 km of 150 DN pipeline, storage fa­cilities and re­ticu­lation system for Mutomo town, which iscurrently served by a low yielding borehole located at the banks of Tiva River.
Optimization of the Nol - Turesh springs located at the eastern base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, whose discharge is 29,450 M3/D, shall also be undertaken under a soft loan facility of Ksh 1.8 Billion from the Government of Spain. TAWSB has com­pleted fea­si­bility studies and de­tailed design to begin in October 2009. Pro­posed works entail con­struction of a parallel 105 km gravity main of 400 ND from Oloitoktok town to Emali town, storage facilities and rural distribution net­work aggregating to 285 km to serve resi­dents of Nzaui, Mukaa, Oloitoktok, Kajiado, Athi River and Macha­kos Dis­tricts. Under the same funding, the reticulation system for both Machakos and Kajiado towns will be over­hauled as current infrastructure is obsolete and contributes to 65% of the Non Rev­enue Water for the aforesaid wa­ter service providers. It is projected that the proposed works shall avail an ex­tra 10,500 M3/D for distribution within the next three years.
Also lined for implementation is the Ilika Water and Sanitation Project at a cost of Ksh 800 Million. The project scope entails Athi River treatment works of capacity 7,000 M3/D, distribution network totaling 150 km traversing the southern Yatta pla­teau and pipe borne sewerage system for Mutomo town. The project will also bridge the supply defi­cit for Mutomo town by injecting 2,000 M3/D to the reticulation system. Detailed design is currently on ± going and work is scheduled to commence May 2010.
TAWSB is greatly concerned about the weak organizational structures of the con­tracted water service providers (WSPs), as often reported by the Water Resources Regulatory Board (WASREB) annual IM­PACT evaluation analysis on per­for­mance of (WSPs). Consequently, this calls for capacity building of Macha­kos, Loitoktok, Nol Turesh, Kajiado, Yatta, Mavoko, Kitui and Kiambere-Mwingi WSPs to be an in­te­gral component of the in­fra­struc­ture de­vel­opment projects. Currently, only 4 out of the 19 contracted WSPs break commercial even due to a host of draw backs ranging from high Un­accounted for Water (UFW), low collection effi­ciency, dilapidated in­fra­struc­ture, and more critically in­ad­equate water supply. Under funding for utilities ex­pansion and renewal by the state in the TAWSB's area in the past has solely contributed to the sorry state of current affairs as generally all the water supplies have reached the zenith of their process and physical capacity.
The soft ware component will thus fo­cus on tech­nical assistance to implement com­pre­hen­sive monitoring, evaluation and feedback framework, carry out asset valuation and update of asset reg­is­ters, Financial Management In­for­mation Sys­tem, human resources up-scaling and legal audits. TAWSB is currently im­proving and/or de­vel­oping billing systems, cus­tomer care and commu­ni­cation policy. Entrenching of Water Information System (WARIS) data and automation as a quality control reporting mechanism for regu­latory compliance for upscalled operational effi­ciency and regulation have also been prioritized.
TAWSB will also construct Wote Water Supply at a cost of Ksh.252 Million be­ginning October 2009. The project scope entails infiltration gallery sys­tem at Muooni River, storage facilities, utility buildings and overhaul of the town re­ticu­lation system.
Pro Poor Strategies
It is note worthy that donor funding un­duly favours urban areas due to per­ceived low investment risks on account of high ability to pay for water services as these are capi­tal works on loan facility. Con­se­quently, the rural poor undergo a lot of pain and agony in search of water. This calls for con­certed efforts for accel­erated im­provement on water access be­cause TAWSB's area of jurisdiction is 100% arid and semi arid (ASAL).
In view of the foregoing, TAWSB in liaison with the Water Services Trust Fund (WSTF) iden­tified 86 target water stressed lo­cations which will access up to a maxi­mum of Ksh. 10 million each for con­struction of rural water schemes. TAWSB has to date prepared 50 pro­posals all of which have been funded and works are ongoing. Other 30 proposals are un­der preparation stage and shall be completed in January 2010. This will avail water to 186,000 people once the projects are com­pleted.
For further information, please con­tact:
The Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +254-020 8009628,
Tanathi Water Services Board
Fax: +254-44-22108
KIDP Building
Email: tanathiwsb@gmail.com
Kalawa Road,
Website: www.tanathi.go.ke
Private Bag-90200,
KITUI-KENYA


Misused cash in Mutito CDF

The listed projects allocation is some of money suspected to have been mis-di-rected, misappropriated or out rightly withdrawn from the CDF bank accounts which shifted from NBK, KCB and Equity Bank all in Kitui Branches.
1. 2003/04-Kyamatu/Voo thua river Drift-500,000
2. 2005/06:
- CDF vehicle - 2,000,000.00
- Rural electrification - 6,000,000.00
3. 2006/07:
- Endau Sec. School - 200,000.00
- Zombe Complex - 3,000,000.00
- Malalani Disp. - 200,000.00
- Yiuku Disp - 250,000.00
- Makuka Disp. - 200,000.00
- Vutu Earth Dam - 200,000.00
- Ikyatine Earth Dam - 1,000,000.00
- Mitaani Earth Dam - 1,000,000.00
- Mbangulo Earth Dam - 1,000,000.00
- Nzangathi Earth Dam - 1,000,000.00
- Borehole - 500,000.00
- Zombe Mutito - 350,000.00
- Zombe Mwitika - 250,000.00
- Nzagathi- Ngomano - 300,000.00
- Mbangulo-Kalulu - 500,000.00
- Ngomango-Kamulu - 500,000.00
- Kinanie Drift - 200,000.00
- Mutito Agro forest - 554,548.00
- Purchase of motor cycle - 900,000.00

4. 2008/09:
- CDF motor vehicle - 3,000,000.00
- CDF motor cycles - 900,000.00
- Mbangulo dam - 2,000,000.00
- Kamulu-Mbangulo Road - 400,000.00
- Katumbu-Mbangulo - `300,000.00
- Kanzauwu Kivutini - 500,000.00
- Kaluva water pple - 1,000,000.00
- Syokimau Earth dam - 2,000,000.00
- Rural electrification - 2,500,000.00
5. Primary School - 11,000,000.00
Bursary - 20,332,240.00
Emergency - 9,990,352.00
Missing not allocated to any project
2004/05 1,100,000.00
2005/06 13,250,000.00
2006/07 12,750,000.00
2007/08 1,190,200.00

TOTAL 75,677,140.00
State finally removes defiant principal from Machakos Girls School
Audit report exposes an insolent and catastrophic tenure
WITHIN months since The Anchor ex­posed worrying corruption levels at Macha­kos Girls High School, the gov­ernment has moved to restore order, albeit with desperate drama by em­battled Principal Joyce Kikuvi.
Even with her replacement by Mrs Mulatya from Mbooni Girls, Mrs Kikuvi refused to handover the school and had to do it in the office of the Machakos DEO Mr Abdulkadir Ali, becoming the first hand- over ceremony for a school to be done in the DEO's office.
The decision to rout Mrs Kikuvi was first made public during a recent District Edu­cation Board Meeting where Mr Ali said a decision had been made to replace her.She was still floating as we went to Press and there was no in­di­cation that nay school would want to have her as Prin­ci­pal until such a time that the mess at Macha­kos Girls is resolved.
Activist groups within the town are po­si­tioning themselves for action if she is posted to another school unless there is a clear justification for her actions or full prosecution is undertaken to deal with the matter which is not isolated only on Macha­kos Girls.
Even after a date had been set for a tran­sition, Mrs Kikuvi refused to turn up, forcing the Eastern Provincial Director of Education to direct that the change over be done even in her absence. Once the new Principal was in office, Mrs Kikuvi re­alized that the last of her tricks to cling on Macha­kos girls had crumbled.
The Anchor reported in August of the pressure to force Mrs Kikuvi out of the school and her plea to the board to seek a `graceful exit ` during the holidays. During one of the usually chaotic biard meetings during her time, Mrs Kikuvi had pleaded that she be allowed to leave once the schools close so that the students would not have to see her pack and leave. Even then Mrs Kikuvi used all tricks in the book to cling on until she realized that the board would not work with her an extra day of the new term.
So as students returned, they found Mrs Mulatya as hew Principal. But the shadow of Mrs Kikuvi hung over the school like a dark cloud as officials knew that she was yet to hand over and clear from the school's resi­dence of the principal.
We had reported that the School Board of Governors, under the Chairman of Re­tired Judge Kasanga Mulwa had assembled an un­assailable arsenal of bad deeds by Mrs Kikuvi that had been packaged into a book­let that was circulated in high offices where Mrs Kikuvi used to get protection from, making her extremely vulnerable as Principal.
If the report did not have the req­ui­site le­gal force, then an audit report from officers from the office of the Controller and Au­ditor General made Mrs Kikuvi the most suitable guest of state to face fraud, forgery and abuse of office charges.
The report details cases of falsified board minutes that remain unsigned, au­tho­rized expenditure, unaccounted for funds among other.
Lest you miss it out, herewith, The An­chor presents to you verbatim, the report, which, sources say, must reach parliament's Public Accounts Committee.
It is addressed to The Permanent Sec­re­tary for Education Prof Karega Mutahi.
™RE: AUDIT INSPECTION REPORT
Pursuant to section 105 of the con­sti­tution of Kenya, section 37 of the Public Audit Act 2003 and section 32 of the Education Act CAP 211, an Audit Inspection was carried out at the Machakos Girls' High School in the Months of July and August, 2009. The inspection covered the period from 1 January, 2009 to 30 June, 2009.
Various observations were made and dis­cussed between the Management, the board Executive, and the Audit Team in the presence of the District Education Office and subsequently a Management letter issued to the man­agement arising from the ob­ser­vations, and various rec­ommen­dations given.
The Management is yet to respond to the issues raised in the Management letter, however, the following issues are being brought to your attention, as they may be considered for in­clusion in The Con­troller and Auditor General Report.
Unauthorised Payment Vouchers
Examination of payment vouchers of the institution revealed that various payments had been made without being signed by the school Principal.
They include;
Date Amount Payee Item
24/7/09 11,800 John Chikati Fish, Ba­nanas
24/7/09 7,000 Cateress Meat
21/7/09 12,000 Saso Musyoka Materials for Dormitory
15/7/09 26,400 Makamithi Finishers, Amlyte
10/7/09 8,000 Jackson Mutuku Salary
01/7/09 15,000 Mr. Makau Items for Art Project
04/3/09 75,000 Southern Division Activity (Drama)
155,200 Sec Sch Heads Ass
The above payments were paid without the authority of the head of the in­sti­tution who is the officer authorized to incur ex­pen­di­ture. This could either be as a re­sult of the authorizing officer failing in her duties or the paying officer paying with­out authority. Regulations require that all payments be authorized by the head of the institution who will be held re­spon­sible to ensure that goods and ser­vices paid for are duly delivered and reasonably priced.
Irregular Payments.
Further, payments were made without following the laid down Government Pro­ce­dures or without seeking the Au­thority of the Board of Governors, more so the payments had not been budgeted for in the Schools current budget.
They Include:
Date Payee Amount Item
18/7/09 Various Teachers 38,000 Extra Contact hours for teachers
7/7/09 Various Teachers 18,800 Extra Contact hours for teachers
05/7/09 Various Teachers 22,000 Extra Contact Hours for teachers
05/7/09 Various Teachers 19,600 Extra Contact Hours for teachers
15/7/09 MDSSJA 76,900 Joint Activity Fund
13/7/09 Various Teachers 11,000 Lunch allowance @ 700 per person
15/3/09 Various Teachers 211,000 Rewards for KCSE perfomance
31/3/09 Lukenya Gateway 28,400 Refreshments for teachers
TOTAL 425,700
Payments for Extra Contacts hours for teachers were made without approval by the Board of governors. These payments had not been budgeted for in the current financial year.
Payments to reward teachers for good 2008 KCSE results and refreshments were also made without approval by the Board of Governors; where as Payment to MDSSJA did not comply with a circular by DEO earlier in the year requiring schools to pay at the rate of Ksh. 150 per student to this fund. The school had already paid the required amount as per the circular and this particular payment appeared to be an overpayment. The payment was also not properly supported since no offi­cial receipt was attached to the payment vouchers. Instead, handwritten notes were attached in support of this payment. Further, payments of lunch allowances at a flat rate of Kshs. 700 con­tra­vene Government regulations on payment of subsistence and accommo­dation allowances. This re­quires that allowances be paid based on ones Job Group and with regard to the area an officer takes lunch or seeks accommo­dation.
Payments for irregularly procured Goods and Services
The management irregularly procured Goods and Services without com­petitive bidding process from suppliers against the requirements of the public pro­curement regulations.
Date Payee Amount Item
09/3/09 Drick Electrotech 145,000 Photocopier
09/3/09 Mutinda Makenzie 112,000 40 Bags Maize
03/6/09 Samson Software 40,000 School Man­ager program
09/3/09 Makueni office & Sch. Supp. 40,000 Beds
12/3/09 Makueni office & Sch. Supp. 368,000 Ex­er­cise Books
28/1/09 Rokim Commu­ni­cations 106,600 Wireless Telephone
13/2/09 Loinit En­ter­prises 288,000 90 Lockers & Chairs 1,099,600
Payments for the photocopier, school manager program, Beds, Wireless Tele­phone, Lockers and Chairs were single sourced. No quotations were invited from interested suppliers.
Payments for Maize and Exercise Books were paid to non prequalified suppliers. Supply of cereals had been awarded to Mrs. Mumo while supply of stationery had been awarded to Wamkoh. No tender Committee Minutes were availed to ex­plain why the school procured from suppliers other than the ones already awarded the tenders.
In addition to buying from a non prequalified supplier, the payment of Kshs. 368,000 paid to Makueni Office & School Supplies for Exercise Books ex­ceeded the quantity bud­geted for the year 2009 by 30 Gross. The books were also received in the school stores under unclear circumstances. The store keeper denies receiving the items and signing the supplier's delivery note.
Indeed, it is not known who received the books since no member of the staff has owned up to the signature in the delivery note. Further, the books were entered in the stationery stores ledger under unclear circumstances since the storekeeper de­nies entering the books in the ledger. This is despite the fact that the books were received and taken on charge in the stores ledger, this borders on forgery and fal­si­fi­cation of records.
Further various cash payments for supply of meat were made, this was despite the fact that a supplier had been awarded for the supply of this item (Heritage Butch­ery). There were no tender committee de­lib­erations to stop his services.
The school management contravened the provisions of the public pro­curement and disposal act 2005, and Public Pro­curement Regulations 2006 (Legal Notice No. 174) of 1 January 2007. As a result, over Kshs. 1,099,600.00 spent by the school as enu­merated above was used without the benefits of a com­petitive process. We cannot there­fore confirm whether the school derived value from this money.
Irregular collection of funds
The school Management irregularly collected funds from parents as school uniforms fee without properly receipting and recording of the collections in the school's official books, instead the collections were done using unofficial cash sale receipt. Further, despite the fact that the collections were meant for school uni­forms the amounts were not banked but were used for payments in cash for irregularly procured goods and services which to date have not been recorded in the institutions books but have been accounted for in some schedules availed to us during the Audit. Despite the collections not being banked the uni­forms were paid for from the school account by cheques amounting to Kshs 824,430.00 and a balance of Kshs 112,640.00 is out­standing among the school creditors in Appendix 1 attached.
The collections and payments are as be­low:
Collections from Parents for Uniforms
Cash collected 953,990.00
Direct Payments to Bank 97,650.00
Total 1,051,640.00
Payments for Uniforms out, of School account.
Date Cheque no. Amount Payee
18/2/09 00160 150,000 Tala garments
9/03/09 00183 183,670 Tala garments
13/05/09 0027 48,190 Mshono
19/5/09 0034 25,000 Muthike
18/6/09 00154 65,580 Umiisyo
20/6/09 0067 132,070 Tala garments
30/6/09 00268 108,000 Muthike
4/08/09 00270 112,000 Tala garments
Total 824,430
Total cash collected for uniforms of Kshs. 953,990.00 was spent irregu­larly without being banked. We were not able to vouch for these expenditures since there were no official payment vouchers to support the expenditures. Only handwritten sched­ules were available to us showing how the amount was spent.
This amounts to misuse of funds.
Kshs. 824,430 spent from the school funds to pay for uniforms was irregu­larly spent since there was no allocation in the school budget for uniforms. This also amounts to misuse of school funds.
It's a serious breach of financial regu­lations to collect money in the school without issuing official receipts for the same. This is clearly spelt out in the Unit 4 of the fi­nan­cial Management in­structions for sec­ondary schools, Colleges and Poly­tech­nics. The school Man­agement there­fore contravened the rules by collecting Kshs 953,990 from parents with­out proper accounting records.
The school management failed to adhere to its budgeted vote allo­cation by spending school money meant for other activities to pay uniforms despite the fact that uni­form money had been collected sepa­rately. Regulation 3.2.1 of the fi­nan­cial Management instructions for sec­ondary schools, Colleges and Poly­tech­nics requires that school man­agers strictly adhere to vote heads which should be approved by the BOG.
School Creditors
We observed that the institution was in­debted to the tune of Kshs. 4,559,913.00 as at the time of our audit. This was in form of debts mainly owed to the suppliers. This amount represents over 50% in­crease in creditors since January 2009 when the creditors were totaling Kshs. 2,962,621.
Appendix 1
Falsifying of Board Minutes
Examination of Board Minutes revealed that various Meetings had been held since January, however out of the four full board meetings and three Executive meeting only one full Board Meeting Minutes were signed, in our sitting with the Ex­ecutive Board Members and in the presence of a representative from the District Education Officer's office the Board indicate that the rest of the minutes had not been signed be­cause they all had been de­lib­er­ately falsified by the Sec­re­tary/ Principal, as such did not represent the true dis­cussions of the meetings. We were therefore not able to rely on all the unsigned minutes.
CONCLUSION
Please study the report and let us have your comments indicating action taken if any, soon as is appli­cable.
Appendix 1
Creditors List as at 30 June 2009
Names Amount
Masaku chemists 102,561.00
Pasha Enterprises 542,387.00
Makamithi 50,680.00
Kib Electricals 75,325.00
J.Muthama 54,324.00
E. Kenya 374,574.00
Tala garments 112,640.00
Muthike Kavoya 108,000.00
J. Muthama stores 54,324.00
Masaku School & Supplies 718,200.00
Makamithi 50,680.00
Makueni Office & Sch. Supplies 258,070.00
KPLC 112,522.00
Somson 68,000.00
Catolic Garage 35,322.00
Waki Enren 35,000.00
Ndovu Generalconst. 320,629.00
Beta Bakers 58,110.00
Muthike Kavoya 108,000.00
Wamkoh 423,460.00
Fralex 277,000.00
Jane Sila 504,377.00
Economic Maintenance Products 6,728.00
Masii Farmers 26,500.00
Perrezz Universal Supplies 63,000.00
Rentaline 19,500.00
4,559,913.00"
Education suffers as MachakosKnut bosses and teachers become warlords
By Anchor Reporters
The KNUT Machakos Branch is em­broiled by internal and ex­ter­nal problems that may lead to its closure.
These problems are making op­erations of the branch difficult and it is only a matter of time before things explode.
They revolve around the Branch Ex­ecutive Secretary Mr. Albanus Mutisya and his supporters on the one hand and his deputy Mr Nicholas Musyoka with a gang of teachers on the other side.
The situation is such that class-work is grounding to a halt within the branch as the two leaders fight, with teachers spending more time in planning intrigue after another, aimed at flooring the rival group.
The row has spread to the education office where officials have aligned themselves with the factions and decisions like transfers and dealing with impunity in cases of discipline are pegged to who is allied to who.
The feuding has defined the practice as head teachers have been so emboldened that they know they can steal school funds and be defended by Knut officials because the issue at hand is preservation of offices and not the enhancement of education.
Traditionally, the DEO's office en­dures an adversarial relationship with Knut officials. ™ But that is not the case in Machakos. Each faction has its own officials whom they se to fight the other faction∫, a well placed security source told The Anchor, adding that the whole fiasco extends to all government offices including the Police where Knut officials can influence who is to be investigated or not.
This situation explains why there is a long standing outcry over inaction over the theft of millions at the teachers Sacco, where virtually one on each side of the divide is im­pli­cated in outright theft of cash or non performing loan accounts.
The officials of the Sacco, who are active teachers have become un­touch­ables as they swagger around with envelops stashed with money to close or force open doors that favour their interests.
In the latest event, Fred Ngumba, a Loans Officer with the Sacco was sacked after he wrote letters to guarantors of Mr Mutisya's loans that total over Sh 3m, seeking to attach their salaries due to the fact that the Knut boss, who ought to supervise the Sacco, had defaulted repayment of loans. Others shown the door in recent weeks are Branch man­agers Penina Mutuku( Wote) and Judy George( Kangundo), alongside Reg­is­try Officer Moses Muthoka.
What complicates matters is that teachers' issues are conjoined at the chest. ™They are like a spider's web and to extricate the issues now is almost impossible. The whole sce­nario is a mountain of trouble∫, said another education officer, also aligned to the other faction.
As a result, consultations among the teaching fraternity is nil an they have become warlords, leading to the skipping of AGMs, and non filling of vacant posts in the Burial and Be­nevo­lent Fund(BBF).
In­ves­ti­gations show elections have not been called because of the fear that a rival's choice may be elected to fill the vacancies.
The wars have led to Mr Mutisya devising a way of evading the tension by op­er­ating from outside the office or in his car.
As a result, teachers accuse Mr. Mutisya for not being available in the office and cannot be reached through his mobile lines.
Due to the many complaints by the teachers to the branch, Mr. Mutisya has totally been pushed to the wall and survival instincts now force him to fight tooth and nail for his survival.
Teachers believe Mr Mutisya is eying a seat in the national office and his detractors have been so vicious that he has not had time to focus on cam­paigning for the national po­sition, where he already serves a Knut Trustee.
So vicious is the fight that Mutisya has had to constitute a triumvirate of three Branch Executive Secretaries- Mwala, Machakos and Yatta to manage the branch.
This has ensured that properties for the old Machakos branch, which are in question, are not shared as has been done in other branches.
Each bid to solve a problem has been met with a complication. For in­stance, an attempt to buoy the Education Scheme has resulted in a court case after money borrowed from IDB ended up in the pockets of some bosses while scheme ben­efi­cia­ries went home with bouncing cheques.
The Anchor established that Mr Mutisya has become a fire fighter of some sorts- making court appearances and at the same time seeking out the litigants to make peace to avoid the full rami­fi­cations of a court based settlement.
As this unfolds, Education officials told The Anchor that the fighting will ensure that Machakos remains at the very bottom in performance index.
™Each time the bell rings, they rush out to go and undo one another. They have no more time left to ensure results are achieved∫, said an official allied to one of the groups who is nevertheless bitter that poor results will impact negatively on education officials themselves.
As we went to press, plans were being rolled out to oust Mr Musyoka from his position, a matter that will es­ca­late the infighting into a full scale war.
On its part, Knut headquarters is said to be studying the unfolding feuding in Machakos. Sources say some national officials would be too happy to collapse Machakos Branch with a view to em­barrassing Mr Mutisya to ensure that he has no guts left to seek any other slot in Knut leadership if he can not manage Machakos as small as it has become.
When Teachers Sacco debt nearly hit a Billion Shillings
Inquiry report shows how sacco branches are all running at a loss
According to the 2007 Audited accounts, Loans outstanding balance was Kshs. 900,000,000.00 in the control account against a listing of Kshs. 360,000,000.00. This literally means there are loans to the tune of Kshs. 570,000,000.00 which cannot be identified with anybody after having been granted; a situation that is un­acceptable.
In the light of creative accounting that was, this calls for urgent rec­on­ciliation to de­ter­mine the correct balances for outstanding loans.
Recommendation
- All loan application should strictly be in compliance with the loaning policy in the so­ci­ety.
- All loan appli­cations should be treated equally and not where money is set aside for staff for top-ups yet the loan portfolio for ordinary members is not satisfied.
- In cases where the society funds are in­ad­equate during approval of loans, loans appli­cation with small amounts should be considered as stated in the loan policy.
- All top up loans should be abolished until such a time when the society will ex­pe­rience idle cash after satisfying the loans.
- Approval of all loans should remain the mandate of the credit committee and the central committee should only adopts report of the credit committee during CMC meetings.
BACK OFFICE
COMMITTEE LOAN BALANCES AS AT 31ST AUGUST 2008.
NAME SHARES L/BALANCE L/BAL DEC 07
Mwanzia Muthonga 98,600.00 194,032.00 147,723.70
Mbwika Mutinga 186,023.50 312,100.00 399,588.00
Nicholas Mutunga 460,844.00 - -
Paul K. Ilii 169,198.00 255,432.00 311,432.00
Josphat Kalanzo 257,470.00 293,954.00 359,754.00
Benjamin Isika 138,700.00 182,526.00 199,200.00
Daniel Nzioka 192,100.00 301,300.00 345,050.00
James Nduta 314,080.00 530,912.00 633,112.00
Julius Nzioka 160,940.00 70,994.00 168,494.00
Paul Kioko 137,967.00 112,000.00 179,200.00
2,115,922.50 2,253,250.00 2,743,553.70
SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE
Onesmus Kiinga 114,900.00
Eric Ngunzi 168,400.00 353,789.00 411,189.60
283,300.00 353,789.00 411, 189.60
STAFF LOAN BALANCES AS AT 31ST AUGUST 2008.
NAME SHARES L/BALANCE L/BAL DEC 07
Moses Muthoka 280,000.00 568,000.00 523,000.00
Paul Mulandi 390,516.00 40,348.00 231,298.00
Augustine Mutisya 351,000.00 666,800.00 660,645.00
Stephen Mbalya 542,000.00 749,605.00 926,450.00
Josphat Malila 342,520.00 738,500.00 898,500.00
Onesmus Musyoki 275,695.00 745,400.00 691,250.00
Judith George 221,070.00 533,627.00 527,790.00
Stephen Soo 186,620.00 532,628.00 368,000.00
Lucas Mutinda 78,000.00 22,000.00 36,000.00
Colleta Tom 170,995.00 341,200.00 -
Benson Mbithi 164,900.00 571,420.00 365,710.00
Gedion Mativo 161,000.00 410,386.00 -
Josefridah Musyoki 27,000.00 79,612.00 23,250.00
Matilda Ndungwa 46,000.00 68,600.00 -
Silvester Nzangi 76,000.00 180,166.00 -
Susan M. Muia 175,100.00 283,900.00 321,950.00
Michael Muema 216,500.00 512,000.00 489,000.00
Peninah Mutuku 189,300.00 295,053.00 372,993.50
Justus Nzioki 218,000.00 387,668.00 383,200.00
Makau Mathendu 78,000.00 - 6,560.00
Patrick Kivindo 40,900.00 136,148.00 51,200.00
Solomon Ngomo 477,150.00 1,292,800.00 1,292,800.00
Lucas King'oo 409,000.00 613,272.00 613,272.00
Angelyn Mueni 50,000.00 - -
Susan Makau 40,000.00 - -
Serah Musyoki 151,100.00 118,400.00 227,400.00
Felister Mutiso 102,766.00 224,000.00 110,000.00
Josphat Makeke 167,247.50 363,550.00 380,550.00
Hellen Musembi 127,550.00 116,206.00 154,206.00
Janet David 151,850.00 433,324.00 378,200.00
5,907,779.50 11,024,613.00 10,033,224.50
Banking Services
Masaku Fosa operations started in October 1999 when the first sala­ries were paid using Coop Bank TSC Salary Code. Later, a num­ber of branches were started to serve members who are situated in areas far off from the main FOSA offices in Machakos town.
Masaku Teachers Sacco Fosa has six pay points (hitherto referred to as branches) opened in various areas of operation with the sole pur­pose of bring services closer to the members and also to pro­mote the society image in the newsly formed districts borne out of the greater Machakos. There pay points (branches) were linked with the Headquarters first via satellite installed by Calkey and currently through Kenline pro­vided by Telkom Kenya Ltd. Provision of branch network and equipment in­cluding safes and assorted furniture and fittings took large amount of financial resources.
The said branches are in serious business only once every month during payment of salaries. This takes place at month end for 3 to 4 consecutive days. There­af­ter, the branches are mere collecting centres for loans forms. The staff are actually idle most of the time and therefore underutilized for that matter.
All the opened branches have been networked to the main office for easy monitoring of operation during pay days and equipped with costly safes de­spite low key business levels.
Whereas they may be considered viable from the political front, economically they are a burden to the society's budget. As much as there is need to main­tain the society's presence in the new districts is vital, wasy and means should be sought to increase the membership in the said areas and therefore register sustainability of the branches. Membership drive should be manned to enroll more mem­bers.
In the absence of a revival plan, the society should come up with ways of still paying members' salaries through mobile services at designated places at month end. A link with Provincial Ad­min­is­tration where payments could be made at the DC's /D.O's offices could be an option.
The branches are as below:-
1. Kangundo Branch
Located in Kangundo town is purportedly fully operational though not independent from the main office as most of the ac­tivities are done in the main office in Machakos.
It is manned by 2 staff members (branch manager and teller ± contractee), very spacious banking hall with 10 teller cu­bicles but only one is in use.
Due to massive ember exodus following the financial crisis which affected the sacco in 2007, the branch serves on average less than 150 members.
Kangundo has potential if only new products could be in­tro­duced like photocopier, MPesa part­nership and most importantly, enroll more mem­bers.
Below is an extract of its op­eration expenses for the month of April 2008
Particulars Amount
Income from commission less operation expenses (76, 071)
Rent 36,000
Staff salary (2) 64,145
Sundry expenses 50,000
Total (226, 216)
2. Matuu Branch
Located in Matuu town and is open during salary pay day only i.e. 3 days per month. It is manned by one staff who doubles as branch su­per­visor and teller during pay days.
Currently serving less than 100 mem­bers due to withdrawal of mem­bers from the sacco. Be­low is an illustration of its operations from the moths April, June ± October.
Particulars Apri. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Oct.
Surplus/deficit 22,500 (19,359) (22,904) (28,006) (27,526) (27,904)
Rent 36,000 36,000 36,000 36,000 36,000 36,000
Staff salary 31,234 31,234 31,234 31,234 31,234 31,234
Sundry expenses 20,000 20,000 20,000 20,000 20,000 20,000
Total (66,244) (106,593) (110,138) (115,236) (114,860) (115,138)
3. Kibwezi Branch
Located in Kibwezi and is open during pay days i.e 3 days per month. It is manned by one staff who serves as the teller during pay days. The branch is currently operating at loss of over 60,000/= every month.
4. Wote Branch
Located in Wote town and is open during paydays only. It's manned by one staff that doubles as the branch su­per­visor and casher during salary pay days.
Currently operating at loss of over Kshs. 70,000 every month as it serves less than 100 mem­bers due mass withdrawal of members last year due to financial crisis experienced.
5. Emali Branch
Located in Emali town and is open only during pay days which are 3 consecutive days a month. It's manned by one staff doubles as the teller during payment and the branch supervisor.
This is the branch in which large amount of money has been spent in terms of networking, Vsat installation, internet in­stallation among others with­out the purported works having been carried out.
The average monthly branch loss is Kshs. 70,500/=; a situation which is not likely to improve soon.
6. Kikima Branch
Located in Kikima market in Mbooni electoral area and is open only during pay days. Unlike others it is not manned by any staff hence giving lesser losses as compared to other branches. Well networked and equipped to work independently once fully operational.
Currently operating at a loss of Kshs. 40,000 per month.
Observation
The branches are operating at a total loss of over Kshs. 575,000 per month which translate to Kshs. 6.9 million a year, thus putting a drain to the sacco funds.
It is apparent that branch ex­penses surpass the incomes generated. The management should find ways and means of revitalizing the branches through recruitment drives so that they could break even.
Every effort should be made to cut down on branch expenses.
FOSA Customers Identification
FOSA offers various products including savings accounts, loans, salary ad­vances, overdraft loans, Fixed deposits to the customers. Although the FOSA is widely acclaimed to be com­put­erized, some crucial operations like identification of customers during cash with­drawal remains manual. Software to assist in iden­ti­fi­cation through electronic strip cards was sources at a not very cheap price, installed but remains unused to this day.
Fixed Deposit Accounts
Original records of the Fixed Deposit Accounts were not available. Word has it that most of the fixed deposit accounts may have been created without actual cash deposits. In cases where physical cash deposits were made to the casher, there were no bank deposits but instead the money was diverted to issuance of cash advances to customers. The society man­agement did not find fit to re-invest the Fixed Deposit funds with banks. All the same, the operations of these FDRs are wanting in the way rates were being applied. For instance w.e.f. 25/5/06 the rates were as follows:-
6 Months 12 Months 3 Months
50000 ± 150000 0.5% 1.0% N/A
151000 ± 250000 1.0% 1.5% 0.75%
251000 ± 350000 1.0% 2.0% 1.25%
Want to keep
your shape all time
attractive as a mother?
The remedy is on your chest
By Shannon Naliaka
How many times have you had a woman say, ™Am too fat, my cloths don't fit any more, my tummy is bulging, I have stretch marksº.∫This are just but a few of the complains made by most women all over the world on the weight or size.
It has always been every woman's greatest desire to look fit, healthy and attractive, but in today's world weight related problems are the biggest challenges faced by women from the point of conceiving.
Many have been known to have the fit figure as they call it, up until they start growing big and bigger when they are pregnant. Trouble starts once they deliver and the growing doesn't go down or for some cases stop and this is when frustration starts to build up.
Many have tried slimming pills, slimming tea, slimming diets and so much more that has lead some to suffer even bigger consequences but little do all these women know that the solution to their weight problems is simple and not in all those things they consider a remedy.
The solution lies in the little bundle of joy they bring home after nine or less months of pregnancy and many hours of painful labour, it lies in their new born babies.
Health officials have been trying to sensitize women on the need of breastfeeding since it saves the lives of infants. But still, some women wean their children at a very tender age because they have something else in mind. It could be a job, or the fact that they are too cautious about the shapes of their breasts, among many other excuses that women give.
The body of a woman takes in a lot of calories during the pregnancy du­ration this is because most if not all women tend to have a liking of chosen tasty foods which are usually too fatty. Worse still, they do not exercise. As a con­se­quence, once they deliver they are unable to remove excess fats and calories that have build up in the body.
What women need know is that during breast feeding they lose the excess fats and calories, enhancing the likelihood f retaining their fit figures while also keeping their children healthy and alive. It is like killing two birds with one stone. Breast milk drains the body fats which constitute an infant's required diet.
The highest population of those affected by weight concerns are the up town women, the very same ones who detest breast feeding the chil­dren they claim to love. They are those who prefer and can afford expensive formula milk.
Yes, formula milk has raised babies but they turn out to be very fragile human species, unlike the breast fed breed who are a hardy, healthy bundles of joy, with a fabled re­sis­tant to most diseases that kill infants and are known to be very intelligent from a tender age. Better still, they help keep their mothers looking good all the time.
Consideration must be made for working women who can not be able to stay at home and breastfeed for the required time, but this should not be taken as an excuse for not properly breast feeding their babies.
But they also are blessed with the various options. One is to milk their breast and store the milk for the baby when they are away. This may cer­tainly sound disgusting to the modern woman due the fixation we have will milking a cow. But another option is to live close to ones' working place so that you can take breaks to go and cater for the baby. If this is impossible there is the option of a daycare close to work. Loving mothers can just take a few minutes to feed the baby to take advantage of this win-win situation.
Research has proven that women who have breast fed their babies well live a happy long life. It also shows that women who discover the weapon behind a suckling baby tend not to stop their children from breastfeeding when they get to that age since they are afraid of gaining weight which will not happen unless one stops feeding properly. Con­se­quently there are a few cases of babies who are as old as five years and are still being breast fed. It becomes addictive.
With a little exercise, healthy eating and breast feeding, that good shape women long for longed for shape becomes a reality and not fiction. If you are eager to prove it take a keen look at tra­di­tional African women who wean their children at an older age. You will notice they maintain their bobby shapes and manage to remain fit all through the moth­erhood period.
Their secret is in breast feeding since they do it for the required time. Are you a due for breast feeding? Do you have weight related issues? Do you want to remain fit? Look no further the answer lies closer than you thought.
New grouping for Coffee farmers
By Shannon Naliaka
Ministry of Co-operatives De­vel­opment is working on en­rolling Coffee farmers into a new movement.
The new outfit- the Kenya Coffee Co-operative Exporters (KCCE) is hoped to help farmers eradicate the negative influence of middle men who have exploited the trade to the dis­ad­van­tage of farmers.
According to the KCCE Chief Executive Officer Ms Lucy Muramba they have plans to part­ner with Kenyans to pro­mote local consumption of coffee and also loan farmers money to im­prove their live­lihood
Ms. Muramba asked the farmers to en­roll as members and get shares stating that a member can own a maximum of 1000 shares and each share will be worth Sh. 100 as well as get protection from the cartels that are out to exploit them.
Ms Muramba was speaking in Machakos during a one day meeting of coffee farmers and Co-operative societies union members from Machakos, Kan­gundo and Makueni re­gions at the Masaku County Council social hall.
The meeting was told that the Co-op­erative Bank of Kenya has issued a Sh. 1 billion grant to act as a guarantee for the coffee farmers incase their produce gets lost or is tempered with once it is handed over to the newly established co-operative.
Speaking during the meeting which brought together more than three hundred farmers and cooperative society officials the Min­is­ter for Co-operative Development Mr Joseph Nyaga condemned the ex­ploi­tation of farmers by some of the co-operatives.
The minister promised to work on en­suring everything is done according protocol.
™It is true members have been exploited before but we are now introducing training guidelines as well as governance guide­lines to ensure everything is accounted for,∫ he said.
The minister went on, ™We need to go back to the time when coffee was known as black gold.∫
The Kenya National Federation of Coffee chairman Philip Muchiri said they have been mandated to act as a watchdog to ensure that the KCCE works according to laid down regulations.
™The co-operative union is targeting farmers all over the country and looks forward to establishing a united movement in the coffee market that will bring trans­parency in the transaction of coffee from the farmers' hands to the con­sumers table ensuring that the coffee farmers get what they deserve∫, Mr Muchiri said.
Ban on charcoal trade in Kitui
By BONIFACE MULU
THE charcoal pro­duction, transportation and mar­keting has been banned in Kitui, an action that observers see as too little,too late but is none­theless wel­come.
Effecting the ban, the local Kenya Forest Ser­vice (KFS) Zone Manager, Mr. Joseph M.Njigoya, re­gretted that the char­coal burning had be­come a real issue in the area. ™I have therefore de­cided to write this letter whose contents are to res­cue the zone's trees and forests from the hei­nous wanton de­struction by charcoal burners,∫ he told jour­nalists in his office as he read the statement to them.
™I have copied the letter to our head of con­ser­vancy in Embu. I have also copied it to the Kitui, Machakos, Mwingi and Makueni Dis­trict Commissioners and the areas' Officers Commanding Police Di­visions (OCPDs),∫ Njigoya added.
How the ban is to be enforced remains to be seen as charcoal trade is one lucrative ven­ture that everyone along the chain- from the for­ester, the logger, the burner, the brokers, the trans­porters, the po­licemen along the roads and their bosses in the offices is ter­mi­nally em­bedded to the gravy train
The forester further said that he had cop­ied the letter to all the forest officers in Kitui Zone (the larger Kitui District in­cluding Mutomo). Njigoya said that the main task of the Kenya Forest Service is to enhance conservation through sus­tainable management of forests and associated resources for environmental stability and social economic de­vel­opment. ™We must therefore En­deav­our to ensure that this goal is reached by educating the public in liaison with other stakeholders in the for­estry sector on the need to conserve and sustainably manage the forest re­sources in the area,∫ he added.
He added that it is also their re­spon­si­bility to regulate the production, transportation and marketing of charcoal there to en­sure the industry is sus­tainable. He added: ™However, the current situation of en­vi­ron­men­tal deg­ra­dation as a result of tree cutting for charcoal production in the region's farm land has reached alarming levels and especially as a result of the current drought situation in the region.
And hence the charcoal industry can no longer be sustainable without com­pro­mising the fragile environment.∫ Njigoya said that it was for that reason and the need to ensure a stop to any fur­ther loss of biodiversity that it has now become necessary. ™Some miti­gation measures have to be put in place to alle­viate any further deg­ra­dation of the environment; an important source of live­lihood. After con­sul­tations with other stake­holders in the forest sector, I now suspend char­coal pro­duction, trans­por­tation and marketing indefinitely in the en­tire Kitui Zone effective from the Sat­ur­day, August 29, 2009 until such a time when ad­equate mea­sures are put in place by my office to ensure that the in­dus­try is not only sus­tainable but also friendly to en­vi­ron­men­tal conservation,∫ Njigoya said.
He said that he was therefore directing all forest officers within the Kitui Zone to en­force the ban in liaison with the local provincial ad­min­is­tration and police. The forester at the same time called upon all charcoal trans­porters to be warned that no charcoal will be allowed to leave the region as doing so would be con­trary to the pro­vision of the Forest Act Num­ber 7 of the year 2005 of the laws of Kenya and the nec­essary legal action will be taken against any person con­tra­vening the law.
He said that the general public in the en­tire Kitui Region is consequently advised to stop any fur­ther cutting of trees for the purposes of burning char­coal in order to safeguard our frag­ile en­vi­ronment and to ensure water re­sources which is under serious threat is safe­guarded.
He added that this will also ensure that the live­stock have something to feed on as trees pro­vide an im­por­tant fodder es­pe­cially during this period of drought. The spe­cialist said that all persons are requested to com­ply. ™Our zone is very intact and that is why 40 percent is still for­ested and is what is under threat. This what we want to safeguard,∫ he said. ™The zone's game parks are protected but what is in the farm land is under threat .We need cli­mate change. We need to con­serve our trees. If not so, they will have a very serious effects for us. We are em­pha­sizing on sus­tainable utilisation of tree re­sources to ensure they are available today, to­morrow and in the future,∫ the KFS Kitui Zone Manager further said.
He said that the rate at which trees are being cut for charcoal burning there is worrying. He said that the rate of tree cutting for the last three months is es­ti­mated at 20,000 trees a month. ™Those are the figures I have in my records here. That is why I took that bold step to safeguard our environment. This is not some­thing to be ig­nored especially taking into consideration this current situation of drought and water scarcity that is asso­ciated with loss of vegetation cover,∫ he said. ™I am calling upon the public to support this ini­tiative in the entire Kitui Region to ensure that our en­vi­ronment is pro­tected,∫ Njigoya added.
Musila runs into trouble with constituents
Defence assistant minister, David Musila, faced-off with leaders in his Mwingi South Con­stituency in a row over lo­cation of Mwingi East District headquarters.
Musila's face fell yesterday when the leaders drawn from Nuu and Nguni di­visions heckled and shouted him down forcing him to cut short his speech and sit down in fury.
The leaders blatantly rejected Musila's and Mui division leaders' choice of Mathuki market as the proposed headquarters of the newly-created district.
The meeting chaired by area DC, Martin Mwaro, and assisted by his Mwingi Cen­tral coun­ter­part, Peter Kinuthia, ended pre­ma­turely and in dis­array at Mwingi Boys Sec­ondary School .
Mwaro reported a month ago and set camp at Mathuki mar­ket, stirring fierce row over the cen­trality of the location.
The assistant minister ran into trouble with the leaders when he said it would not be easy and an overnight task to re-allocate the headquarters from Mathuki mar­ket to any another place.
Musila accused the `groaning' leaders of using the head­quar­ters dispute as a plat­form to advance their quest to oppose him in the 2012 Gen­eral Election.
∫This is a misplaced political tug of war. You cannot infiltrate into the matter to undermine me and discredit my political career by engaging in chest thumping matches∫, Musila furiously re­buked the critics.
But Joe Mutambu, Revered Petros Kalii and Ngui Kiruru told off the MP to his face, accusing him of attempting to bulldoze the leaders from Nuu and Nguni di­visions into accepting his choice by im­posing un­popu­lar decision on the constituents.
∫This is unacceptable and a bomb­shell to Musila. He cannot take us for a ride and get away with it. There must be a price if he does not abide by the ma­jority opposed to Mathuki pro­posal∫, Fredrick Musyimi who hails from Nuu di­vision re­torted.
However Professor Kiteme Kamuti and an advocate Eric Mutua both from Mui di­vision coun­tered their rivals and told them to be positive and stop politicising the issue which could be solved soberly and amicably without issuing threats and ul­ti­ma­tums.
When the altercations threat­ened to gen­erate into ugly confrontations, Mwaro in­ter­cepted and declared the meeting closed and asked ev­ery­one to leave the hall.

The DC said that the meeting stood ad­journed indefinitely un­til he consulted his seniors for di­rection and the next course of action.