Malawi Wire

A 54-year-old inmate serving a three-year sentence at the Kericho GK Medium Prison for the offence of destruction of cultivated crops, has been freed on medical grounds.

While releasing Isaiah Tuwei Ngetich, who was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer in January this year, Kericho High Court Judge, Justice Joseph Sergon, said there were no compelling reasons for the prison facility to continue holding him.

Justice Sergon was speaking, Thursday, during a Kericho Court User’s Committee member’s visit to the prison facility.

The Officer In-Charge of the prison Senior Superintendent of Prisons (SSP), Labantine Makoyamo, said the prisoner was brought to the jail upon his conviction on March 3, 2022, and had so far served 14 months into his sentence.

Makomayo said the prison facility filed an application to the Kericho Law Court to have him freed on medical grounds upon noticing that he was experiencing a lot of pain when swallowing food late last year, and they took him to the Kericho County Referral Hospital, where he was diagnosed with the life-threatening ailment.

‘When he came to the prison, he was not sick, but he later developed pain while swallowing food, thus prompting prison authorities to immediately take him to the referral hospital for diagnosis and treatment,’ he said.

In an interview with KNA, shortly after he was released at the Prison’s Welfare Office, Ngetich expressed joy that he will now be with his family members as he undergoes treatment from his home in Soin/Sigowet Sub-county.

The distraught father of two said he was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the throat on January 8, 2023, after he started experiencing pain while swallowing food.

He further said he had developed a swelling on the right side of the neck and another one on the left side of his forehead, besides experiencing difficulty while talking, but was hopeful that God would heal him.

‘I thank God that I am finally going back home to be with my family after staying in jail for one year and two months. My brothers have been visiting me, and I cannot wait to be reunited with them,’ said Ngetich.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Thousands of residents from Kirinyaga County have benefited from Huduma Kenya services that brought government services closer to the people in a single stop environment.

The Huduma Center Kirinyaga marked their seventh year since inception in a celebration held in their premises.

Speaking during the event Center Manager Rhoda Mwanzia said the facility currently serves almost 500 customers per day up from 150 when it opened its doors.

She acknowledged that the office of county commissioner has been helpful especially when conducting Huduma Mashinani sensitisation where they move to specific identified points to offer services.

The center with over 65 staff offers 15 different national and county government services and is expected to almost triple its services due to digitization of more government services.

Ms Mwanzia further acknowledged the commitment of the staff to serve the customers to their satisfaction

‘We are happy as Kirinyaga to be part of the team marking 7 years. We have been offering quality services and getting much assistance from the office of County Commissioner through Deputy County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioners and chiefs when we are doing Huduma Mashinani,’ she said.

‘We started with 15 staff but we have grown to 65 offering around 15 services for both levels of government’ Ms Mwanzia added.

Kirinyaga Central Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Ndege, who represented the County Commissioner, said the Huduma Center has enabled residents to access service and cut on the cost of transport citing his experience in the past where it would take 6 months to get an Identification Card only from the District Office which was far away.

He added he will fully support the Huduma Mashinani services by mobilizing Assistant County Commissioners and Chiefs to assist the staff during such events.

Ndege noted that the biggest challenge was those who apply for the Identification Cards and fail to collect them.

‘The biggest challenge is those applying for IDs and they don’t pick. At one point the center had over 5000 IDs but after we launched a Rapid Results Initiative for track and tracing the owners using the chiefs, currently we have around 600. We will join hands with MCAs to ensure that the owners get the document,’ Ndege said.

One of the Huduma services beneficiary Kevin Njeru said the Huduma has brought efficiency and easy access to government services. He recalled going to Nyeri for NTSA services and Nairobi for Pension services which would take more than a week and then you may not complete the whole process.

The Huduma Centers countrywide will mark 10 years’ anniversary later this year since it was first launched in 2013.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Ten sub-locations in Homa Bay identified as marginalised are among others in the country that are set to benefit yearly from 0.5 per cent of the revenue collected nationally as Equalisation Fund for development in a bid to bring regions that are marginalised at par with the others nationally.

The ten which were identified by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) through the 2019 population and housing census courtesy of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, include Gwassi North (Malongo and Kitawa), Upper and Lower Kwamo, Kitiro in Ndhiwa sub-county and Kwandiko in Central Kanyamwa among others.

These regions are considered marginalised in five key parameters in terms of accessibility to water, public schools both secondary and primary, electricity, modern roads and public health.

The Director ICT at the CRA Joseph Kuria said lack of critical infrastructure is the reason for these regions to lag behind in terms of development as well as poverty levels.

The commission has completed its second marginalisation policy which drew its data from the 2009 population census and now it is in the process of developing the third.

‘We have visited two sub-locations, Kitiro in East Kwabwai and Malongo in Gwassi North to verify the data we have for us to come up with the third policy on marginalisation,’ Mr Kuria said.

The team looked at the issue of accessibility to water, electricity, the roads, health services and basic education to the people within the sub-location.

Malongo sub-location lacks connectivity in terms of electricity and has one dispensary whose proximity to the furthest homestead within the sub-location is about three to five kilometres.

It is marginalised in such a way that accessing services like water, health and education requires long hours of walking given that there are no roads nor transport system and accessing the services of boda boda operators is also a challenge.

Mr Kuria noted that the equalisation fund will be directed towards improving these infrastructures to better the lives of the people.

‘We are setting aside additional funds so that these areas are not marginalised. The fund should work in synergy with the county assembly and is meant to provide an intervention in those five key areas,’ he said.

The equalisation fund is established under article 204(1) of the constitution to facilitate the provision of basic services such as water, roads, electricity and health to marginalised areas and the commission is mandated to formulate policies for identifying these areas.

It is also mandated to regularly review marginalised areas for purposes of the Equalisation Fund which will be used to improve on the priority sectors in these regions.

The director said there is a need for active involvement of both the county and national governments to ensure marginalised areas enjoy similar services as other areas in the country.

‘We have talked about the issues that pain the community and what their priorities will be. They have prioritised water, followed by road, electricity, health and lastly education,’ he stated.

The director advised that the equalisation fund is little and therefore the community needs to form a project committee that will identify the most critical infrastructure to improve on before moving to another.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Narok residents have called on departments to engage local contractors when implementing projects supported by the National Government as they understand the terrain better than contractors from other counties.

The residents said this when they presented their views to a team from the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) who toured the county to seek comments from the residents on the projects implemented in the first and second policy of the equalisation fund.

The CRA team led by their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Katule toured several projects implemented using the equitable fund and held focus groups with the local residents.

Pastor Moses Marima who spoke at Erusiai Primary School in Narok North Sub County said a water project and roads made in the area were not up to standard as the contractors were contracted from Nairobi and did not understand the challenges on the ground.

He called on the government to engage local contractors who will be available to be questioned by the residents’ years after the project is completed.

‘For instance, the borehole drilled at Olchoro Dispensary is unable to function because of a minor problem. If the contractor was known to the residents, he would be easily approached and asked to repair the broken part,’ he said.

Suswa residents led by their Member of County Assembly (MCA) Salaash Kisotu also echoed the sentiments saying two water projects that were allocated over Sh150 million to be constructed in the area were never done.

‘We want the local contractors who have the capacity to make such mega dams to be awarded the projects so that we can question them and make follow up easily in case the project is faulty,’ he said.

The Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde had highlighted the same issue when the CRA officials had visited his office saying most projects built by a contractor who was not well known by the residents were done in a shoddy manner.

He cited an example of classrooms and a laboratory being built at Emurua Dikir Constituency that he alleged were poorly done despite the contractor having been paid millions of shillings.

While noting their concerns, CEO Katule said all projects implemented by the equalization fund should be well labeled to differentiate them from other projects being implemented in the county.

89 sub locations in Narok that are deemed to be the most marginalized are set to benefit from the third policy equalization fund.

Source: Kenya News Agency