Day: April 12, 2024

The rise in fatal accidents nationwide, primarily due to motorists’ disregard for traffic rules, particularly during the rainy season, has raised concerns among leaders and civilians in Uasin Gishu county.

Addressing the media, Moi’s Bridge Member of County Assembly (MCA), Patrick Kimeli, decried the increased accidents witnessed in many places across the country during this rainy season, claiming several lives.

He called on road users to be vigilant and extra careful on the road by adhering to traffic regulations in order to avert further accidents, ensuring no more lives are lost due to road carnages.

The MCA challenged drivers to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition and able to maneuver when it’s raining.

‘If you look at statistics a lot of accidents are happening during the rainy season caused by various challenges including mechanical failure. Sometimes you find that cars experience breakdowns on the roads, but due to lack of signs and warnings other vehicles run into them causing massiv
e accidents,’ he said.

He noted that during the rainy season visibility is a challenge to the drivers, calling upon the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Public Works, to mark the roads, so that drivers can clearly see the road paths.

‘Despite the good roads that have been constructed most of them are not well marked, if this is implemented drivers will have an easy time staying on track reducing chances of accidents on our roads,’ affirmed Kimeli.

He alluded that citizens play a big role in ensuring their safety on the roads by boarding vehicles that are in good condition and driven by sober drivers.

‘Citizens should be keen when boarding vehicles by avoiding overloaded vehicles, speaking out when the driver is over-speeding and reporting drunk driving drivers. You should not feel ashamed to speak out because your safety comes first,’ He warned.

The MCA commended the government’s plan to re-introduce alcoblow among drivers a device that detects the alcohol levels in an individual as it will help curtail
drunk driving on the roads.

He mentioned that The National Transport and Safety Board Authority (NTSA) should be well funded to strengthen their coverage in terms of numbers in order to effectively manage all roads across the country.

‘NTSA is doing a good job, however they are few compared to the number of roads in the country. They should be well funded especially in budgeting in order for them to actualize plans like the introduction of smart licenses where drivers are rated according to how effective they are driving the vehicles,’ he noted.

Kimeli suggested the introduction of traffic regulations that prohibit issuance of licenses to drivers found with cases of alcoholism.

‘It is risky to endanger the lives of innocent civilians due to alcoholism, therefore, going forward the government should make it into law, denying licenses to alcoholic drivers,’ he affirmed.

The MCA urged Traffic Police Department, to carry out their duties with due diligence and in accordance with the laws, to ensure vehicles
are roadworthy so as to prevent further accidents.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Murang’a County government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Joy Miller’s Limited, based in Kagio, Kirinyaga County, in which Murang’a maize farmers will be selling their maize to the Millers.

Murang’a Governor Dr. Irungu Kang’ata noted that in the agreement 17,500 farmers from every ward will be recruited, where each ward will have 500 farmers who will be getting certified maize seed and also get subsidies for fertilisers from the county, as a way to boost maize farming in Muranga County.

Dr. Irungu added that the county is targeting 35,000 bags from farmers, buying at Sh 3,500 for a 90-kg bag set at the minimum price.

‘Our farmers have been selling their maize at a very low price, but once this programme starts, farmers will benefit from their labour, which is why we have given a minimum guarantee,’ he said.

The Governor said his administration is going to help farmers form cooperatives per ward, which will help farmers have a central point where their maize will be collected by
targeting each ward’s two aggregation centres.

‘It may call to the county government to help farmers join and form co-operatives and buy this; we will have helped even the local factory we have in the county, this will also help them reduce the taking of raw materials outside the county,’ Governor Kangata said.

Joy Miller’s Director, Maureen Muthoni Chomba, said that Miller is going to partner with the county government of Muran’ga to provide competent staff who will help educate farmers and enable them to give the best quality as required.

She has also added that they have expressed their gratitude to the Muranga County government.

‘We are targeting to promote local farmers as we increase the amount of maize we have been getting locally,’ she said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Heavy rains in North Horr Constituency have left hundreds of families homeless in the past two weeks.

Hundreds of families have reportedly been rendered homeless in various parts of North Horr Constituency, following heavy rains that have been pounding the area for the past two weeks.

The region has been isolated from the rest of the country due to increased flush floods caused by rains in neighboring Ethiopian highlands, causing the rejuvenation of seasonal rivers. A county steering group meeting, organised by Pastoralist Community Initiative Development Assistance (PACIDA), urged residents in flood-prone lowlands to relocate to higher ground to prevent loss of lives and property.

Chaired by the County Commissioner, Nobert Komora, the meeting resolved that a comprehensive rapid assessment be conducted to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods so far so that interventions can be made in a precise manner.

According to preliminary information received from the Constituency, over three hundred
families in about 100 homesteads in Koricha and Dahagabochi areas have been displaced after floods destroyed their dwellings and the property therein.

The Kalacha-North Horr section of the Marsabit-North Horr highway is currently inaccessible after several seasonal rivers served by drift bridges sprung up.

The scenario has left the region without supply of essential commodities, leading to an all-out hike in prices, especially food items.

A kilogramme of sugar is going for Sh 300, up from Sh 100, while a piece of available cabbage is selling at an equal price of Sh 300, up from Sh 60.

Persistent rainstorms have destroyed two ECED centres, downed six power poles in North Horr town, and made roads including Gas and Dukana impassable.

The CSG asked the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to move with speed and have the damaged parts of the road repaired without further delay so that transportation could resume and avert suffering.

‘The damage could be much bigger, as unconfirmed reports indicate that
small stocks such as sheep and goats have been swept away by the deluge,’ said the area Member of the County Assembly (MCA), Tura Elema.

The southern part of the county has also been adversely affected by floods, which have destroyed the road network, cutting off areas such as Sarai, Irrir and Martidorop.

Other areas reported to be out of reach after roads became impassable are Mpagas, Ngurunit and Illaut, with calls for humanitarian assistance from the government and well-wishers.

Consequently, Mr Komora announced an emergency aid dispatch from the National Government to the affected families consisting of 200 bags of rice and 100 bags of beans.

The County Commissioner said the assistance will be delivered by all possible means as the CSG awaits a report on the actual situation on the ground on Tuesday for proper intervention, adding that Kenya Power Company technicians have been deployed to North Horr town to work on the fallen poles and restore electricity supply.

At the same time, the Marsabit County
government also said it was releasing 300 bags of rice and 20 cartons of cooking oil as a mobilisation of resources to help the displaced.

Meanwhile, in Moyale Sub-county, a water pumping machine at Bori borehole in Bori location has been washed away following a heavy downpour that pounded the area overnight.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Turkana County Government and the Turkana Girl Child Network Organisation (TGNO) have joined hands in a long-term tree planting plan towards making Turkana greener.

The partnership was announced following a meeting between the County Executive for Tourism, Culture, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Elizabeth Loote, and the organisation’s representatives.

‘We intend to plant 1.2 million trees every year to change the environmental outlook of Turkana and comply with the international requirements on carbon credit control. The partnership with the community-based organisation will facilitate the goal by creating a platform to drive the tree planting agenda,’ Loote said.

The CECM emphasised the County’s readiness to leverage on partners’ support in mobilising the public to take up tree planting as a personal and community responsibility.

‘This partnership highlights a shared commitment to environmental sustainability and empowering youth through practical initiatives,’ noted Loote.

The Project Director,
Joel Ndambuki, elaborated the organisation’s ‘Greening Youth 360 Project Overview’ was to be implemented in Turkana County.

He highlighted that the project’s goal is to promote the quality of life for girls, with key areas of focus including education, health, nutrition, and many more.

Chief Officer for Energy and Petroleum, Triza Amoni, commended one of the project’s initiatives in supporting youth with disabilities and working closely with public primary and secondary schools to equip the youth with greening skills.

The meeting was attended by senior officers from Energy and Petroleum, Natural Resources, Minerals Resources and Climate Change directorates.

Source: Kenya News Agency

133 households in Kanaodon, Katilu Ward, Turkana County have benefited from County county government’s restocking exercise that targeted drought-affected families.

Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai led the restocking exercise yesterday, where each affected household got five goats.

Governor Lomorukai said that pastoralists in Turkana had lost approximately 364,000 livestock during the drought season and the county government had kicked off interventions to rebuild livelihoods of households that had been affected.

‘As the County Government, we have allocated resources to restore livelihoods for the affected households through the restocking programme. We are not only doing it here, but we will also be in Kalemng’orok and Kaputir,’ he said.

Governor Lomorukai acknowledged insecurity challenge, which is associated with livestock theft in Katilu and Lobei Kotaruk and warned leaders fueling the conflict for political mileage that their days are numbered.

‘I want to ask all of you to live peacefully and avoid leade
rs that are fueling conflict in this belt. I want to assure you that the days for such leaders are numbered,’ he cautioned.

The governor enumerated his administration’s track record and assured wananchi that he was steadfast and wouldn’t allow pilferage of county government resources, a factor that he said had led to disagreement with a section of leaders in Turkana.

He promised to repay the residents who had shown confidence in him during the election through development project implementation and outlined his focus on restoring the riverine as a food basket through farm infrastructure development.

Governor Lomorukai urged Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) to increase budgetary allocation for similar restocking programmes to ensure that affected households in future get more goats during restocking initiatives.

Area MCA Samal Etubon thanked the county government for the restocking initiative, noting that it will improve livestock productivity and called for arrest of those fueling conflicts in Turkan
a South.

Other speakers, led by Minority Leader Samuel Lomodo, lauded the restocking exercise and pledged to support Governor Lomorukai’s development agenda at the County Assembly.

Senior County Government officials who accompanied the Governor included Deputy County Secretary Joseph Nyang’a, County Executives Antony Apalia (Livestock) and Patrick Losike (Infrastructure), as well as Chief Officers Janerose Tioko (Agriculture) and Evans Lomodei (Fisheries).

Source: Kenya News Agency