This year’s County Trade fair ends

By Soila Munyaka

A day before the trade fair

The 2-day County Agricultural, Livestock exhibition and trade fair has come to a fulfilling close today; 12^th of June, at the Maasai Rural Training Centre (MRTC).

The field filled with activities

The event had been organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, livestock and Fisheries in collaboration with AWF. This year’s theme was “Adoption of technology for suitable agricultural transformation and resilience”.

Some briquettes at the show

Many stakeholders from the county participated, to display their contribution towards the growth of the County and especially in the agricultural sector.

Speaking as he officially opened the trade fair, the Governor H.E Dr.David Nkedianye called on the wananchi to learn as much as possible during the two days.

A bull at the show

“This is a good opportunity for the people to learn new things and opportunities there are, in this field of agriculture…” he said.

It was a successful event, which ended with some good news coming from Hon Jonah Orumoi, County Executive Member for Agriculture. The tannery at the MRTC that has been under construction since 2011 will be operational by end of the year. This will create jobs for many people therefore improving their living standards.

Lights, finally!

By Soila Munyaka

The residents of Maasai Rural Training Centre (MRTC) can smile again after almost a week; from Tuesday 2nd to Sunday 7th, in the dark due to power outage caused by a burned transformer after some drizzles.

Lack of electricity led to some financial constraints to the people living in this place because they had to spent money on water and fuel for lighting.

Maasai Rural, as it is commonly known to many, has some residential houses. It is also a host to NGOs like ALIN, MAAP and Compassion. There are also some government offices; the IEBC office for Kajiado East Constituency and Oloosidan Location Chief’s office. A public primary and secondary school also use  water and electricity from MRTC.

“It has been such a long and difficult week without water and electricity, but God is good…” said Ms.Elizabeth Muia, a resident at the MRTC.

Personnel from KPLC at the MRTC

According to the KPLC personnel, it was a challenge to find a small transformer. Another reason for the delay was due to the immense workload in the company as during the rainy season power outages are common and demand for services shoots up.

Water taps in the MRTC have been dry for sometime now and the nearest water point is Isinya town and this makes it a huge expense.  The people here are hoping that this issue on water will be resolved once and for all, as soon as possible to lessen the big burden.

The president strives to steer the nation ahead

By Soila Munyaka

Wanachi during Madaraka day celebrations

The government has taken practical development steps towards eradicating disease, ignorance and poverty, in line with the vision 2030.

In his speech during the 52nd Madaraka day celebrations, the president highlighted some of the progress made on this subject.

He recently commissioned modern medical equipment in Machakos County. It includes a state-of-the-art theatre, kidney, and X-ray and ICU equipment; to enable doctors to treat serious ailments.

The government has raised its capitation to secondary schools from Ksh. 28 billion to Ksh. 32 billion and for primary schools from Ksh.14 billion to Ksh.15 billion. The objective is to make primary and secondary education truly free within the next three years. The government will also cover the examination fees.

Quite entertained

By the year 2017, the president promised that the standard gauge railway will have reached Nairobi. The government is also working hard to attract foreign investors into the country, for job creation. This is however hindered by insecurity especially terrorism threats. No investor would want to invest in a place where security is not guaranteed.

DCC reads the president's speech to the people

To address this issue, the government has heavily invested in strengthening the institutions involved. Equipping the police force, empowering the national intelligence, criminal investigation institutions and the defense forces.

President Uhuru urged those especially in the public sector to be responsible and to shun from graft and to always uphold integrity as this is the only way to achieve the goals and promises made to the wananchi.

The sub-county becomes safer for all

By Soila Munyaka

The crowd jovial during the entertainment

The security situation in the sub-county has improved over the past few months due to the efforts made by the stakeholders concerned; including the nyumba kumi initiative.

Speaking during the 52^nd Madaraka Day celebrations at the Isinya Primary School grounds, Mr. Fred Machoka, a celebrated radio personality who also resides in the area was keen to note the change.

Mr. Machoka

“It is evident that the security of this area has tremendously improved. The DCC and his team are doing a commendable job and I urge them to keep it up…” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by the area MCA, Hon. David Nkirrimpai, who also firmly criticized the investors in the sub-county.

“Some of these investors pretend to be good and genuine, and are not. Some who are working on the Standard Gauge Railway are so mean that they can’t even share water from their boreholes with the community. If they can’t do that, we might as well do without their sodas during these celebrations…” said Hon. Nkirrimpai.

Hon. Nkirrimpai

Still on security matters, it was noted that some investors hire or contract people from outside the county, and at the end of job period, these people do not return to their places of origin and in turn become criminals. In this case, the investors were asked to work with people from this area to avoid such occurrences.

The DCC, Mr. David Kipkemei, vowed to work even harder to ensure that the sub-county is safe for everyone. He also urged the wananchi to be vigil and to provide information to the security officers on any issue that might come up pertaining security.