Day: July 7, 2023

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered the country’s education authorities to immediately start introducing the Swahili language into the country’s school curriculum for easy business communication with Swahili-speaking countries.

Chakwera spoke Friday during a televised joint news briefing with visiting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan about ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.

“I am pleased to inform you, everyone, that I have shared with Her Excellency the exciting news of my administration’s decision to introduce language studies to strengthen both Malawi and Swahili-speaking sister countries like Tanzania,” he said. “And my ministry of education is instructed to implement that policy with the agency.”

Education experts in Malawi have said learning the Swahili language, which is one of the most spoken languages in many parts of Africa, would help Malawi boost trade partnerships with Swahili-speaking countries.

Hassan was on a three-day visit to Malawi, where she was invited as a guest of honor during Malawi’s 59th independence anniversary celebrations held Thursday in Lilongwe.

She told reporters that Tanzania would provide Malawi with everything needed for the introduction of the Swahili language.

“On Kiswahili [another term for Swahili], my brother said it well,” she said. “And I thank you for the decision you have taken. Tanzania is ready to give all what is required to make Kiswahili being taught in Malawi schools. We are ready for that.”

Tanzania, which is a predominantly Swahili-speaking nation, is among neighboring countries where most Malawian traders go to buy their goods, including clothes and motor vehicle spare parts.

Many complain about the high cost of Swahili language interpreters.

It was not clear whether Swahili lessons in Malawi would be compulsory.

Source: Voice of America

The initial designs of the proposed Sh. 42 Billion Maragua-4 dam will be changed so as to ensure Murang’a residents benefit from water from the reservoir, Water Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome has said.

Wahome, who spoke during her recent visit to Muranga, observed that initially the dam to be constructed at the upper zone of Murang’a at the borders of Kigumo and Kahuro sub-counties was meant to supply water to Nairobi City County.

She explained that with the new design, the supply of 180, 000 cubic meters of water on a daily basis from the dam will be divided equally among residents in Nairobi and Murang’a counties.

Wahome revealed that new design plans are almost done to ensure that especially lower parts of Muranga, which experience minimal rains, will greatly benefit from water from the dam.

Construction of the mega dam, expected to commence before the closure of this year, will be a second reservoir in Murang’a to supply water to Nairobi and its environs after the Ndakaini dam, which is in Gatanga constituency.

‘With new plans, the Maragua-4 dam, whose construction is about to start, will benefit residents of Murang’a and those in Nairobi equally. This will not be like the case of Ndakaini Dam, which supplies Nairobi with more than 80 per cent water,’ observed the water CS.

Once complete, Wahome said the dam will supply water to Kahuro, Kiharu, Maragua, Kandara, Kigumo, and parts of Gatanga sub-counties.

‘Due to their topographical location, Kangema and Mathioya sub-counties will not benefit from the dam, but there are other water projects planned to increase water coverage in the two sub-counties,’ she added.

The last regime constructed a Sh. 800 million Maragua-2 dam in the upper parts of the sub-county to supply parts of Murang’a south sub-county with water.

Two local water companies have been disagreeing on which firm is supposed to utilize water from the dam and supply it to the locals, a matter currently being solved by the county administration.

Meanwhile, the Water CS mentioned other interventions aimed at increasing water coverage in the county, saying that in the current financial years, funds have been allocated to rehabilitate some non-functioning boreholes.

‘I had a discussion with local legislators about giving a list of boreholes in their areas that have water but are not functioning. The boreholes are set to be rehabilitated by cleaning and installing solar panels to provide power instead of using electricity, which is expensive,’ she said, adding that drilling of new boreholes will be done after the rehabilitation of existing boreholes is done.

To increase food production, the CS noted that each of the seven constituencies is slated to get an irrigation project.

There are ongoing irrigation projects in Kiharu, Kangema, Gatanga, and Kandara which have stalled due to lack of funds, but from this financial year, money will be channeled to facilitate their completion.

‘The remaining constituencies of Mathioya, Kigumo, and Maragua are slated to get irrigation projects to boost food production,’ added Wahome.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The global problem of access to safe water and sanitation is staggering, as more than 1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and more than 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation.

In Kiambu County, more than 3,700 primary schools require improvements in safe water and hygiene facilities, and more than 35,000 community latrines are required throughout the county to meet government-recommended standards.

These statistics were the backbone of water quality assurance training conducted for public health workers in Thika by CFK Africa, a non-governmental organization.

‘The social and economic consequences of inadequate water and sanitation services are generally devastating. Without these critical services, people fall ill, children miss out on learning, especially girls, and entire communities can be displaced by water scarcity. Safe water is not a luxury but a necessity. Everyone has the right to safe water, proper sanitation, and hygiene, yet so many go without,’ said Eddah Ogogo, a primary healthcare coordinator at CFK Africa.

‘At the same time, the benefits of access to safe water and sanitation, for individuals and societies alike, are beyond measure. These services are key to healthy development in children and to sustaining well-being as adults. They also offer a pathway to broader social and economic progress by supporting community health and productivity,’ she said.

The officers were trained on how to treat the schools’ and local communities’ water supplies with chlorine solutions to improve sanitation. They were also encouraged to establish school health clubs and community engagement forums where both students and community members would be taught appropriate hygiene techniques.

Handwashing stations would also be installed in both schools and communities, and where there was no water supply, community members would partner with the county in developing new water points. This is part of a three-year water and sanitation program that will support the government in scaling up hygiene practices in Kiambu County.

‘We have heard of cases in schools nationwide where students got sick and some teachers succumbed to what is suspected to be water contamination. This is very disturbing, and it is why we have decided to introduce water hygiene awareness in schools and neighbouring communities to make sure that incidents like these never happen again.

The training came at the right time because the program will determine whether school-based projects can provide a platform for permanent awareness and access to hygiene services, and if these techniques are proven effective at the county level, they will provide the framework for national implementation,’ said Patrick Wachira, a senior public health officer in Thika, during the training session.

The program is expected to reach at least 300 schools (including 90,000 students in the first three years) and will provide valuable information on the costs and benefits of school water, sanitation, and hygiene. Teachers and community health workers would be trained at a later date.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) is seeking to amend the Unclaimed Financial Assets Act number 40 of 2011 in order to reduce the time taken by Kenyans to access their claims from the authority.

Under the current framework, it takes 90 days from the time a person files a claim on an asset to the time the authority finally delivers its decision regarding the asset.

Additionally, all claims, including small-value claims, are subjected to the same lengthy process, which often discourages individuals with small claims from pursuing their assets.

According to UFAA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Mwangi, the proposed amendments will also seek to integrate technology, which will in turn improve the claim settlement process.

Additionally, Mwangi says that the authority is also pushing for the harmonisation of all other existing laws on unclaimed assets to eliminate any hindrance that could bar UFAA from accessing the unclaimed assets from the holders.

‘There are amendments which are supposed to be made to the UFAA Act 40 of 2011. The current legal framework doesn’t differentiate whether one is claiming Sh 1 million or Sh 10 because the process is the same. So we are working with the legislators to change our legal framework to make it easy for the claimant so that once we establish who you are, then we are able to pay you your money without the lengthy process,’ said Mwangi.

The CEO was speaking in Nyeri during the launch of a three-day public sensitisation drive where members of the public were encouraged to check their status on any unclaimed assets.

The drive, which will be jointly undertaken by Huduma Kenya, was also aimed at encouraging holding institutions such as banks and Saccos to surrender unclaimed financial assets in their possession.

Currently, the authority holds Sh 27.28 billion in cash in the form of unclaimed bank deposits, savings deposits, dividends declared by various companies, money from telecoms, unclaimed pensions, and Sacco deposits. UFAA is also in possession of 1.2 billion units of unclaimed shares.

Similarly, the authority has paid out Sh 2 billion in cash and another 39.7 million units of shares, with Mwangi blaming the low reunification rates on a lack of awareness among the general public about UFAA.

‘The main challenge is that a lot of people do not know about UFAA, and that is why we have started the nationwide initiative to sensitise people to check or collect their unclaimed assets. It is imperative that these monies be reunited with their rightful owners and ploughed back into the economy,’ said Mwangi.

From Nyeri, the campaign will be rolled out in Kiambu and Thika. Ben Kai, the Huduma Kenya CEO, said that they would be partnering with UFAA to ensure that they bring the public closer to their assets. He noted that five out of the 52 Huduma centres in the country had already set up an UFAA desk, and plans were underway to popularize the service in the remaining 47 centres under the Huduma Mashinani outreach programme.

‘We have Huduma centres in all 47 counties, and our work is to bring all government services closer to Kenyans. This is a platform that UFAA can leverage on to reach as many Kenyans as possible. As Huduma, we have also come up with another channel, Huduma Mashinani, where we will be taking the services right to the doorstep of Kenyans and bringing them closer to their assets that would have been lost,’ said Kai.

Source: Kenya News Agency