WATER
State gives Sh1m for
water relief in Mwingi He said the funds which were channeled through the area district water office will go along way to strengthen water supplies in the semi arid district.
The DC hailed the Government for the support noting that priority will be given to the boarding schools and hospitals which were mostly affected by the drought.
He announced that the district has so far received 1000 bags of maize, 200 bags of beans and 200 cartons of cooking oil to be distributed to the starving residents.
The DC said the vulnerable people will be considered first when the distribution starts and urged chiefs and their assistants to en-sure the needy and deserving people benefited from the relief food.
contractor at Umaa Dam
The committee queried how the contract was varied from Ksh. 800 million to Ksh. 1.4 billion and ex-pressed fears that the cost price could escalate further.
Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito questioned why the contractor, consultant and National Water Pipeline and Conservation Corporation who is the client could not agree on the contract documentation.
“It seems dam experts ignored and the con-sultant who is the supervisor did not originate the designing of the giant dam,” said Kizito. Murugamia Kirimania, of the consultant firm KIRI, told the committee that the de-sign of the dam was done in 1990s and his firm was only consulted in the review of the de-sign in 2006. The committee members also included MPs Njuguna Gitau (Mwea), Benedict Gunda (Bahari) and Benjamin Washiali is visiting major dams that are subject of in-ves-ti-gations by parliament over corruption claims. The committee visited Kiserian Dam in Kajiado county and Maruba dam in Macha-kos county y They also visited Bardassa dam in Marsabit and Chemususu in Rift Valley.
highest water tariffs in region
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting in Mwingi town, the KMWASCO chairman Mr. Josphat Mulyungi said that the water company is facing many challenges therefore the need for the price increase of the commodity from the current Ksh. 2 to Ksh. 4
Also in the meeting was Dr. Bishop Robert Mutemi who urged the local residents to look for alternative means to get the precious commodity like dams and boreholes for the area never gets enough rain. Mutemi who chairs KMWSCO’s finance committee said that only water harvesting and conservation would save the drought hit area since water from Kiambere was not reliable due to frequent disconnection. The board member added that electricity cost is a major challenge and its cost goes up to Sh 2 million shillings per month despite other high maintenance costs that leave the company to the mercy of donors. In the last financial year, the company operated at a deficit of Ksh.32, 746,370 after raising an income of Ksh.14, 856,206 over expenses of Ksh.47, 602,576 Tanathi Chief Manager of Utilities and Community Development Engineer Mutuva confirmed that the board is also planning for a new sewerage system in Kitui, Mwingi and Kyuso districts However, the leaders urged the community to plan for emergency water programs like storing water in bigger tanks and other water alternatives in order to have the commodity throughout the year. Food supplies in Kitui continue to
re-duce effects of famine on education
He said the initiative is spearheaded by World Food Programme (WFP) but was ini-tially designed to purchase nutritious foodstuff from the area but was revised due to the prevailing drought.
The programme will target all primary schools in Kitui West, Kitui Central and Mutito constituencies as part of the expanded school-feeding programme (SFP).
Maundu observed that the prevailing fam-ine in the area had threatened to interrupt school activities with many pupils dropping out of school to assist families in looking for food.
The educationists admitted the initiative will encounter difficulties in implementation because the rations will have to be sourced from other areas thereby incurring trans-port costs.”It has to be implemented but the pro-longed drought will deny schools a chance to purchase foodstuffs from the area and not incur transport costs,” conceded Maundu.
Kitui Central DC Joshua Chepchieng’ has since called for a review of the initiative to ensure the pupils got nutritional food not-with-standing the element of transport which he said should be factored by WFP in the face of unavailability of food in local farms.
He said the government intervention was not enough to alleviate the food crisis afflicting local residents and appealed to charitable organizations to supplement the efforts.
exam results, DEO charges
Speaking at Machakos School when he launched this year’s form one selection ex-er-cise in the district, Mr Abdikadir said that although performance in national examinations had im-proved for the last three years, there was still need for more action.
“Machakos residents are their own enemies because while parents and leaders in neighbouring districts accepted and supported assessment tests and mock examinations, there was serious opposition in Machakos”, said the DEO.
The DEO’s comments appear to suggest that if Machakos residents accept the tests, then the performance levels would improve. The truth of the matter is that residents have no problem with the tests as long as education officials do not use them to fleece parents.
Observers say the DEO must make a clear distinction between acceptance of genuine instruments of improving education standards versus endorsing a structure that Education officials and teachers convert to a cash cow as often happens leading to abuse and his office does nothing or very little to stop.
The implication of supporting the tests is that parents would pay for the exams, which goes against the government policy of Free Primary Education(FPE). When FPE was introduced by the NARC government in 2003 after the fall of Kanu, tuition and other school levies that kept pupils away in the years of misrule were banned, leading to many poor students accessing education in unprecedented numbers. Education offi-cials and teachers have been using tricks to re-introduce these levies using all sorts of names, triggering resistance from parents. The DEO also criticized local media for depicting educations standards in Macha-kos district as dropping while in actual fact there was marked improvement.”In 2009 alone Machakos was the most improved district in Eastern Province while the mean score had improved by 3.81", he said. Residents of Machakos are demanding that education officials to put their best foot for-ward and ensure that Machakos re-claims its place at the top of the chart and not the mere decimal 3 improvement, says a mem-ber of the Machakos Residents Asso-ciation Mr Jackson Lau. “ What the DEO fails to grasp is that the media has a responsibility to ensure that education fraternity does not go to sleep as they have done over the years. The fact that there was a small improvement is en-cour-aging but not good enough to make everyone jump to the roof tops in self-praise”, Mr Lau added. The DEO said the Government was de-ter-mined to bring back the lost glory of the district which was number one in Kenya in the 1994 KCPE and had remained among the top ten in Kenya through the 1990’s. Mr Abdikadir challenged secondary school head teachers and their staff to ensure chil-dren joining their schools excelled much more than their entry status. The DEO asked head teachers to ensure fairness while selecting form one students by respecting their choice of secondary schools noting that only day schools should give preference to children from surrounding villages. closed down
scrutinizes Maruba Dam
Firm takes up school
fees burden for girl
Lydia’s parents are unable to pay her fees due to poverty. There are many more poverty stricken pupils whose fate hangs in the balance due to their parent’s inability to pay fees
“Every year we identify five needy students who had scored well in KCPE through the help of teachers and pay for their secondary education from form one up to form four,” said Masila He said they are carrying out tree planting and medical check ups in schools as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
offices in Wote, targets County MPs
Party leader and former Mbooni MP Joseph Konzolo Munyao who officiated the opening of the office said that the party is on a drive to register members and strengthen the party at the County level in readiness for 2012 polls.
“We want to have more members at the County level so that we can capture most of the seats created in the new constitution and that is why we are going to open offices in all Counties,” he said. Mr Munyao said that DP is still strong and that those who think that the party is finished are mistaken. He also urged President Kibaki to make sure that the next president comes for the Democratic Party that helped him capture the seat. “Our party has been producing presidents and now what we ask Kibaki is that he makes sure the legacy goes on and endorse a presidential candidate from the party in 2012,” Munyao said The former minster was accompanied by the party organizing Secretary Jacob Haji, deputy treasurer Fabian Murugu, election chairman James Karithi, women representative Lilian Mwaura and national branch coordinator Fred Waithera. Mr Munyao added that the Ocampo six should be taken to Hague and that the Vice President is wasting time and taxpayers money because the African Union (AU) is not a member of the United Nations Council (UN). AU is not a member of the UN council, membership is through individual countries so I do not see the reason why Kalonzo is busy doing shuttle diplomacy to save the Ocampo six. We can even add Ocampo more suspects if they are not certified,” he said But the Party leader took issue with the ICC chief prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo saying that instead of dealing with the real issues he was being pulled into the Kenyan politics. Munyao also took the opportunity to declare his interest for the seat of Senator of Makueni County. “I have been a Minister for a long time and now I want to go the next class which for is to be the senator of Makueni County,” he said amidst applause from the crowd. 
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