Category: Executive

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

An amount of Ksh. 42 million has been disbursed to needy students in Secondary, Vocational Training Centres and those with Special Needs, Governor Stephen Sang has said.

Governor Sang awarding one of the top student at last year’s KCSE exams from the school.

Governor Sang revealed that Ksh. 18 million was disbursed to students in Secondary, with Ksh. 18 million going to Vocational Training Centres and six million benefiting students with Special Needs. Ksh. 18 million will be disbursed to University and College students in the last quarter of the 2018/19 Financial Year.

Speaking at St. Joseph’s Girls High School Chepterit during a thanksgiving ceremony to celebrate 2018 KCSE results, Sang said the County bursary scheme has helped many students who faced fee problems to complete their education.

While encouraging residents from needy backgrounds to apply for bursaries at the Ward level, Governor Sang encouraged students to put more efforts in their education for them to have a better future.

Students of St Joseph’s Girls Chepterit during the Thanksgiving giving service held at the school.

‘The identification of bursary beneficiaries has been devolved to the Ward level to ensure that genuine needy cases benefit from the bursary,’ said Sang.

The Governor urged students not to be distracted by their background but to concentrate on their studies since that was the only way they could change their lives and the lives of their families.

‘I am an example. I was raised in a very humble family and I want to encourage all of us to put in that extra effort,’ encouraged Sang.

“Don’t worry about your background because that should not define your future. If I worried about my background, I wouldn’t have reached where I am today. Focus on your studies,” he added.

He said that his administration was keen on supporting the Education sector in the county by ensuring that infrastructural development in schools are fast tracked and needy students get support through the county bursary scheme.

“My administration will continue issuing bursaries to needy students to enable them complete their education and actualize their dreams,” he said.

He added that his administration was working closely with the National Government to ensure that infrastructural developments in schools are fast tracked.

Governor Sang inspecting coffee berries at Seiyot Farmers Cooperative Society in Tindiret Sub County.Photo/GPS

Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has asked farmers in the county to take coffee farming seriously after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed deal with China last year.

Sang spoke  when he inspected several development projects in Tindiret Sub County.Tindiret in the county is well known for coffee growing.

However Sang said more need to be done in order to recruit more farmers to practice coffee farming through cooperative societies.

This, he said, will help in increasing their economies of scale hence more returns in the market.

“Last year I was part of the delegation that went with the president to China where he signed an agreement for our products to be sold in China. He signed a deal for coffee, tea, academia and other products,” Sang said at Seiyot Farmers Cooperative Society.

Already the county has distributed over 10,000 coffee seedlings and 200kg of coffee seeds to cooperative societies in the county.

“The county is focused on strengthening cooperative societies through availing to them necessary support for their growth. It is through such cooperative that we will be able to empower our farmers as we seek to fully venture into agri-business,” He added.

“We will distribute more seeds and seedlings to farmers through cooperative socities.My focus is to turn this region into one of the leading coffee producing areas in our country,” He said.

Many farmers growing coffee in the region are old but Sang want youth to be incorporated into the business for livelihood improvement.

“I want to also ask you parents to allow youth a portion on your land so that they can also plant coffee. This will ensure that they are economic independent and everybody at the end get income to pay schools fee and other expenses,” said sang.

According to Sang, he will work on the formulation of policy framework together with the county assembly to see to it that they consolidate the county’s market for the produce so that they can be able to export to overseas markets.