Category: Public Service

NATIONAL COHESION AND INTEGRATION COMMISSION HOLD A CONSULTATIVE FORUM WITH THE COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD

Leveraging diversity among county employees helps to create programs and services that meet the diverse needs of a county government. By cultivating a diverse workforce, employees are able to come up with ideas that improve the lives of all residents hence achieving the sustainable development goals.

Board Members following the presentation

The National cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) convened a sensitization forum with the members of the county Public service board. The objective of the forum was to develop strategies that are geared towards ensuring inclusivity and compliance in employing county staff  with reference to the developed minimum standards and principles for recruitment.

Ezekiel Chemwor and Irene Choge at the event

Speaking during the forum, Commissioner Hon. Philip Okundi noted that the current composition of the staff is skewed towards the dominant community and urged the County Public Service Board to progressively improve on ensuring equal opportunities for all ethnic groups. He emphasized on the need for the County Public Service Board to ensure that issues around gender inequality, marginalization and  exclusion are addressed.   . He was accompanied by Kyalo Mwengi, Assistant Director Complaints, Legal and Enforcement, Catherine Gakuru, Assistant Director Investigations Mr. Kyalo Mwengi, Assistant Director, Complaints, Legal and Enforcement, NCIC Senior Legal Officer, Mr. Jackson Mwikamba.

Mr. Kyallo Mwengi giving a presentation.

Mr. Kyalo Mwengi, gave a presentation on the minimum Standards and Principles for Recruitment to Ensure Inclusiveness and Diversity at the County Level. He urged the county public service board to always strike a balance in ensuring that there is equality during the employment process. This will be achieved by ensuring that they adhere to the principle of giving equal opportunities to all and considering People living With Disabilities (PWDs) and those from maginalized areas . He also emphasized on the need to have open days by the County public service board to showcase their work and sensitize the public on the recruitment processes.

During the forum, Mr. Jackson Mwikamba, disseminated the results of the ethnic audit of staff  that was done in 2016. According to the results  the county had 1129 staff members 81% of the employees were from the Kalenjin community,10.4%  from the Luhya community, Luo form the 2.6 While 6% were from other ethnic communities.

Nandi County Public Service Board CEO Jacob Sisey expressed great satisfaction with the NCIC and its role in guiding institutions on what the Constitution and County Acts stipulates. He thanked the NCIC team for the sensitization forum in that it had taught the members on the essence of diversity  as a key objective in fostering national unity.

Sisey underscored that the county public service board has been able to demonstrate inclusivity and transparency by  employing 30% non-residents, fulfilling the affirmative action of the marginalized wards within the county and bearing in mind people living with disabilities.

Present during the event were the board members, Irine Choge,Ezekiel Chemwor,Daniel Mwogoi,Member of County Assembly Osborn Komen, Stella Rutto member County Assembly Public Service Philister Maiyo,Deputy Director Administration and Nancy Jeruto Deputy Legal Officer,CPSB

The county government of Nandi is in close partnership with Red Cross society of Kenya in finding the possible disaster mitigation strategies. It is one of the counties that are vulnerable to more forms of disasters. In the recent past, some parts of the county like Tinderet, Aldai, Nandi hills and some parts of Chesumei have been adversely affected by landslides and mudslides as a result of heavy rains experienced as from March 2018. This has resulted in the socio-economic impact of the same in terms of loss of life and property, transport inconvenience and disruption of infrastructure and communication.

During a meeting with the red cross concerning shelter reconstruction.

This phenomenon (landslides and mud slides) is exacerbated by increased precipitation and decreased counter forces due to depletion of vegetation cover and human activities. It occurs when a large amount of water causes the rapid erosion of soil on a steep slope. Settlement and resultant human activity on steep slopes compounds the situation and puts human life and property at risk during periods of heavy rain. Both short term and long term mitigation strategies are put in place to solve the current state problems and prevent future occurrences.

Following post mud-slide assessment, some households that were severely damaged need to be constructed to enable owners settle to their farms. The team comprising of members from Red cross society and Nandi county disaster management have gone ahead to map and identify the households that were severely affected by the mudslides. They have also reassessed the suitability of the reconstruction and managed to identify 23 households (13 in Tinderet, 6 in Nandihills and 4 in Aldai subcounties) as beneficiaries of shelter reconstruction by the Red Cross Society. The community member were given the opportunity to decide on the type and design of house they wanted. Having discussed with the beneficiaries, it was agreed that safer grounds to be identified for the reconstruction of a three roomed mud house with iron sheet roof, a concrete floor plan and separate set of washrooms. A sample house structure has already been constructed whereas the whole process is set to be completed before end of November. The community is therefore encouraged to take charge and support this project.

The team also came up with strategies to be implemented so as to reduce such landslide related dangers. These strategies are; policies governing land and vegetation management, good slope management practices, safe shelter awareness, implementation of vegetation management program, adopt appropriate farming practices, evaluate slope nourishment, develop monitoring systems and tools, making routine observation and assessment of slope conditions to ascertain its stability, advice on settlement along the slopes and civic education on disaster preparedness and management.

Sample shelter reconstructed by red cross and county disaster management team.

Nandi County like other counties, has always been vulnerable to more forms of disasters which need rapid response in order to avoid massive destruction of lives and property. Therefore, the county government of Nandi will soon be establishing of a full combat County Disaster Action Unit. This unit should be able to do comprehensive hazard mapping and zoning on all risk places in the County as well as developing Contingency plans and coordinate all the emergency response for any hazardous occurrences within the County as a way of ensuring safety for the citizens.

By Cornelius Kipkoech Chebwaai.

Plans to establish the first ever milk processing factory in Nandi has kicked off after the County Government of Nandi begun to hold a series of consultative meetings with dairy stakeholders in the county to lay down all the necessary strategies.

In a consultative meeting held in Kapsabet with all the Dairy Cooperative Societies in Nandi on Tuesday, Nandi Governor Stephen Sang said the County government has allocated 115 Million shillings in the 2018/2019 financial year towards the establishment of the milk processing plant and the process of building the factory and acquisition of machines will begin before the end of this year.

However, Governor sang lamented that low volumes of milk being produced currently could adversely affect the 200,000 Capacity factory once it is operational.

Sang said the current capacity of milk produced stands at 51,000 Litres only and there were need for the farmers to improve the productivity to meet the capacity of the processing plant.

The county boss said the his administration will  continue to work tirelessly  to ensure that the daily milk production targets are met as the construction of the milk factory gets underway citing the already running Artificial Insemination program as one of the ambitious interventions by his government to ensure that high quality livestock breeds are sired for the dairy farmers.

On the other hand, Dairy farmers lauded governor Sang’s efforts to transform the County’s Agriculture sector pledging to put together their efforts to ensure the success of the Value Addition Strategies laid down by his government.

It is estimated that nearly 17,000 households in Nandi practice small scale dairy farming with an Avarage milk production standing at a paltry 3Litres per household.