Month: May 2019

27 May
By: Remmy Butia 1

UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS IN NANDI GET EMPOWERMENT TOOLS

It is an inescapable fact that young people constitute the most socially active and energetic segment of the population in Nandi. Young people are endowed with the energy and creativity; and they are our society’s most productive human resource with the greatest potential to contribute positively to County development.

Acknowledging the youth as the season of hope and the promise of great things to come, the county government of Nandi through the department of Sports, Youth Affairs and Arts has distributed welding machines as job starter tools to the youths.

Presenting the tools to beneficiaries from the three sub counties of Emgwen, Chesumei and Mosop, Nandi Deputy Governor, Dr. Yulita Cheruiyot reiterated the commitment of Tuga Tai administration to employment creation for the youths, as the focus was to alleviate poverty among the less-privileged.

The deputy governor urged the beneficiaries to justify the huge investment on them by using the tools judiciously.

She expressed confidence that the programme would serve as a good take-off point to creating a source of livelihood with the beneficiaries becoming employers of labour, leading economic growth and development of the society.

“Our administration will continue supporting policies and practices that will aid in the transformation we are witnessing among our young people, including livestock production, marketing, sports, livelihoods diversification, and knowledge management, among other programs,” said the deputy county boss.

Through the department of Youth Affairs, the government has so far presented 45 electric welding machines with a target of 100 to selected artisan youth groups in Nandi geared towards elimination of unemployment among the youth.

The selection of the beneficiaries was done at the ward offices and at the department of youth affairs offices for those youths who submitted requests for empowerment tools.

The department of youth affairs and arts is targeting one hundred youth groups to benefit from the empowerment support program.

Chief Officer Youth and Arts Nelson Ligaga urged the Ward Administrators and youth officials to monitor the usage of the tools to ensure that they are appropriately utilized.

The CO reiterated that his sector will be distributing more machines to youths from Nandi hills sub county this week and the rest of the sub counties in the coming weeks.

Sports Chief Officer Kennedy Tanui stressed that the programme was in the overall interest of the our youth and county at large.

The county government of Nandi remains determined to tackle the challenges of unemployment through various empowerment programmes.

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15 May
By: Remmy Butia 0

SPEECH BY H.E STEPHEN SANG DURING THE SIGNING OF AN MOU WITH CDDCs FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF NARIGP AND THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE GIS LAB

Distinguished guests,

County leaders, farmers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you are aware, Nandi is among 21 Counties implementing the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Project (NARIGP) whose development objective is to improve productivity and profitability among targeted communities.

I have noted that NARIGP is a Community Driven project. All the beneficiary communities and stakeholders have already been adequately sensitized and consulted. All implementing Wards have prepared Community Development Plans articulating their development priorities. It is against this backdrop that Community driven development committees (CDDCs) have been elected in each of the 20 NARIGP implementing Wards to oversee the implementation of the project at community level.

I wish to applaud the Department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development for the steps they have taken to establish the committees in each Ward. I am informed that all the members were elected through an open, fair and democratic process particularly by farmers engaging in dairy, indigenous chicken, Irish potatoes and Avocadoes, which are the priority value chains supported by the project in the County. I am also satisfied with the efforts made by the project staff to prepare them to carry out their mandates in each Ward. I understand that all the CDDCs have been adequately trained on their roles. They have also registered as Community based organizations (CBOs) and have opened bank accounts through which project grants for implementing beneficiary farmer groups will be channeled.

Pursuant to the Project Participation Agreement, which I signed in November 2017, my government is required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each CDDC for them to be eligible for funding. We are therefore gathered here today as the entire County leadership to witness the signing of the MOUs between our two parties.

To all the members of the CDDCs, I wish to remind each one of you that your new assignment will demand your selfless service to Mwananchi. I therefore call upon you to embrace servant leadership and be committed to render strong and accountable leadership in order to achieve progress amongst our farming community and by extension, to this great County at large.

I take this early opportunity to assure you of our continued support as per our obligations under the MOU. I am aware of the great responsibility bestowed upon you particularly in handling project resources entrusted to you on behalf of the community. I therefore call upon all leaders to play their role in nurturing and supporting you to ensure effective implementation of the project.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are gathered here again to witness the launch of the County’s first ever Geospatial Information Systems {GIS} lab, a project that has been made successful following the support of EU through FAO in the land programme that seeks the attainment of Vision 2030 through devolved land reforms in community lands in Kenya.

The County Governments Act of 2012, The Urban Areas and Cities Act and the Physical Planning Act {Cap 286} requires county governments to put in place a Spatial Plan that will guide the development of urban areas so as to ensure proper utilization of land resources in the county.

This Plan, among other roles shall indicate the desired patterns of land within the county, address the spatial construction and of the county, provide strategic guidance in respect to the location and nature of development within the county and set out basic guidelines for a land use management system.

GIS will also be significant in the resurvey of lands held by Tea Estates to establish if there is any residue to be held in trust for the community by the County Government for public purposes. This is pursuant to a recent ruling by the National Land Commission.

After 113 years since the murder of our hero Koitaleel Araap Samoei and the forcible transfer of the Nandi population from their fertile land, NLC ruled that a resurvey be done on lands held by Tea Estates to establish if there is any residue to be held in trust for the community by the County Government for public purposes. The GIS systems is going to be a valuable tool in our ongoing efforts to review our and update our county rating roll from which rates and rent are payable. This will greatly improve our local revenue collection.

This system will also greatly simplify the settlement for the various squatter groups including Titan Squatters, Timur Nandi Community, Nyando Valley Association and Nandi Kaburwo Council of Elders as directed by NLC
At the same time, GIS shall be instrumental in land use, urban, transport planning and environment planning. It will also help in surveying and mapping, analysis of areas required for various interventions, analysis of productive agricultural areas and disaster management and mitigation.
Through GIS, the county government shall effectively do soil mapping, natural resource management, wetland mapping and generate information on all our tourist attraction sites.

The County Government of Nandi is already in the procurement process to start county’s spatial planning through the Department of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources. The establishment of the GIS lab has come in handy since these spatial planning cannot be possible in absence of the GIS technology. There is need to balance food production and urbanization in our county. Urban areas require raw materials for processing which can only be gotten from the rural areas while at the same time rural areas need processed food for consumption. This kind of correlation, therefore, demands that we need to balance our planning for a long term effect.

Among my commitments to the people of Nandi when I was seeking their trust in leading the County is my promise to address the Historical Land Injustices that subjected the people of Nandi to untold suffering in their own land. The petition to the National Land Commission has since been processed. I am happy to report that the ruling of all the cases was in favor of the people of Nandi. This therefore means that we have a clear guideline on how we shall address the issue of squatters and all the communities that were involved in such injustices. With the GIS lab, we shall be able to clearly identify and map all the areas with ease and take the necessary action as guided by the Land Commission.

The county has embraced the use of ICT in service delivery in all departments and GIS is among the technologies we are adopting in the Department of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources. Other ICT initiatives that we are putting in place is the automation of our hospital process through Health Management Information System which is at the final stages of deployment, biometric registration of all the county staff through Human Resource Management System, upgrade of the revenue collection system and establishment of the data centre that will host all our systems.

We are also at the final stages of stages of establishment of 24 hour contact center that will have a toll free line. This will enable the people of Nandi and outside to call in and report disasters, emergencies or make general inquiries at absolutely no cost. This will enhance our public participation and open governance as we seek to full engage the people of Nandi in the transformational agenda of my government.

We are also in the process of acquiring Agricultural Information Management System from Safaricom. This system shall enable us to register all farmers in Nandi County. The information shall be instrumental in rolling out various farming programmes and improvement of extension service. The platform shall also provide vital information to the farmers that will enhance their yields. As we establish a milk processing plant, the system shall be instrumental in capturing the data of the entire value chain in the dairy sector.

Today the County Government of Nandi shall also sign an MoU with Ward Community Driven Development Committee {CDDC} on the implementation of National Agricultural Rural and Inclusive Growth Project {NAGRIP}. The programme seeks to implement agricultural sub-projects identified and managed by communities identified across the county. The partnership is welcome especially at this time when we intend to fully engage the people of Nandi in all the projects we are rolling out.

Ladies and gentlemen, with all these initiatives around land use and agriculture, I want to assure that transformation journey is becoming clearer and better every day.

It is my humble request that we all join hands in all these programs since all of them mean well for our county.

For those few remarks let me thank you all for joining us in this landmark events that marks the beginning of a journey that will positively impact on our lives and those of generations to come.

Thank you! God Bless Nandi.

HON. STEPHEN K. ARAAP SANG
GOVERNOR

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