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| Kitui Governor Dr Julius Malombe signing after being sworn in by Justice B.T Jaden |
Born to poor peasant farmers in a Kitui rural village Dr. Julius Malombe was a perfect picture of young rural child growing up to an uncertain future owing to the family’s poverty.
Juggling his role as a herds boy at day time and burning the midnight lamb to pursue education defined his early life as he emerged among the top in his village in primary education examinations.
Lacking school fees and other education basic needs was not uncommon owing to realities of harsh economic condition in the household as most of the times he depended on the neighbors’ goodwill to complete schooling.
Dr. Malombe owes his success more to Ithiani villagers who gave him a self worth, respect for diversity, enduring pursuit for knowledge, uncompromising integrity, humility and unwavering discipline.
Dr Malombe hopes to use these virtues for the benefit of his community in Kitui. These are the qualities that make up the stock he will employ to turn round the fortunes of the County to spur the region’s economic and social growth .’ Time for empty rhetoric is over. It is time to move this County to the next level through transformational leadership’’. was Dr. Malombe’s big quote in his inaugural speech after he was sworn in as the first Governor by Judge Beatrice Jaden.
Dr. Malombe’s main agenda is to devise programmes aimed at tapping the unexploited mineral resources which range from huge deposits of coal in Mui, Limestone in Mutomo and iron ore in Ikutha districts which will not only give the county the much needed revenue but also turn the region into an industrial hub in additional to creating jobs for the locals.
Also in his blueprint are elaborate plans to make the region food secure but maximizing the potential of rivers Tana and Athi which cut through the county in the northern and western parts.
’’ Aplan we must implement shows that the region has potential for both food and horticulture crops but what lacks is water which we will harness through establishment of many boreholes, water pans and water points to supplement irrigation schemes which will be created from the two river sources’’, explained Dr. Malombe.
Dr. Malombe went to Matinyani Primary and Secondary Schools before proceeding to University of Nairobi for an undergraduate degree in land and urban development.
He worked in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development where he rose through the ranks to become the Director a post he held until when he retired from the civil service.
Prior to joining politics, Dr. Malombe was a consultant in housing and urban development and was also a guest lecturer in various public and private universities.
He chaired the devolution committee that drew the functions of the devolved government and the role of members of the county assembly in the new government structure.
As the person in-charge of a home with inhabitants estimated 1.1 million and covering an area of 30,570 square kilometres, Dr. Malombe has a task of addressing the county challenges which include inadequate water supply for domestic and agriculture use and low and declining productivity of land as a result of overgrazing, charcoal burning and limited adoption of appropriate farming techniques.
Although the County is endowed with livestock, poor marketing infrastructure impedes utilization of the resource as there is no vibrant market for the livestock and agricultural produce leading to the disposal of the produce through middlemen at throw away prices.
’’ Under my leadership, the county government will fully harness its human and financial capital to enhance agricultural production for sustained food sufficient in the households through effective water harvesting programmes’’. says Dr. Malombe.
To tap the talent of the youth, he says education standards will be improved by enhancing quality pre-primary and nursery education in order to lay a firm educational foundation for children.
He also says all village youth polytechnics and home-craft centers in the county will be well equipped to provide the youth with post-Primary and secondary training and skills development opportunities.
In the Tourism sector, he says elaborate plans will be made to develop county tourism-related facilities and enterprises through leveraging the upgrading of the Northern Transport Corridor, the Tsavo East National Park, the Mwingi , Kora and Kitui South game reserves, while the amazing cites of Nzambani rock, the Yatta Plateau, Mumoni and Miambani ridges will be revitalized as tourism attraction cites.
’’The first job of the constituted devolved government will be to capacity build and orientation of officers working in the county for better appreciation of the government system including the planned asymmetrical and phased transfer of functions to the county government and how to moderate and manage the peoples expectation’’, avers Dr. Malombe.
He says preparation of a medium term plan containing priority flagship projects that will be implemented during the initial 2013-2017 five- year period under his leadership was almost complete.
’’ Delivering the promise of a better Kitui County will however require collective responsibility of all stakeholders hence need for leaders regardless of their political party affiliation to work together’’, says Dr. Malombe.
