governor%27s jamhuri day speech
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SPEECH BY H.E. HON. PETER MUNYA,
GOVERNOR,
COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF MERU DURING
THE JAMHURI DAY CELEBRATIONS HELD AT
MERU TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTE ON
12TH
DECEMBER, 2014.
1. 50 th National Jamhuri Day Celebration
Today I am happy to join all citizens in Meru
County as we celebrate the 50th
Jamhuri Daysince our Country became a sovereign
republic. Half a Century of independence and
freedom has ushered new generations of
citizens who are born free. For this reason, thepeople of Meru join all other Kenyans to
congratulate our president whose charges
were dropped this week from foreign
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prosecution at the ICC. We also hope that the
two other Kenyans with cases at the ICC mayget justice.
Jamhuri is about celebrating our freedom
from foreign, colonial and oppressivedominion. As a County we celebrate the
democratic space and leadership which
recently resulted to unity by all elected
leaders. May I take this early opportunity tocongratulate and appreciate all elected
leaders in Meru County for setting aside their
political and personal differences so as to
effectively serve the people. My governmentwelcomes this noble initiative for unity. I also
want to recognize the efforts of other
stakeholders such as the Njuri Ncheke, the
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Church and other non-governmental
organizations who have played a key role inuniting people for development.
2. Security
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we celebrate Jamhuri today through
parade, dance and songs, we also pause to
reflect on the affront to our cherisheddemocratic freedoms posed by external
threats in some parts of our country. Kenyans
treasure their freedoms to live and work
anywhere in this republic without fear anddiscrimination. These freedoms have been
seriously threatened and undermined by
insecurity. Even though security is not yet a
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devolved function, County Governments
should not continue to be relegated to beingspectators when the lives of people are put at
risk by terrorist and criminal elements.
As the legal framework is being considered bythe national legislature, the County
Governments wish to urge the National
Government to gazette the County Policing
Authority Regulations to enable Counties toput security management mechanisms in
place as soon as possible. Management of
security at local level is a world-wide practice
which has been the missing link in ourCountrys security management system since
the devolution of functions. One key aspect of
security management at the County Level is to
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provide quick and immediate response to
incidences like the ones we have recently seenin North Eastern Counties. Our proximity to
the northern frontier makes security
management a critical factor for development
of this County. In this connection, I urge allcitizens in this County to continue to live in
peace and harmony with one another and to
be vigilant during the Christmas festivities
ensuring strangers are carefully vetted inhotels, shopping malls, Churches and other
public institutions.
3.
Jamhuri highlights of the progressmade by the County Government
Ladies and gentlemen,
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Today I will make fewer highlights of theprogress made by my government in
discharging its mandate because soon I will be
able to provide a comprehensive report when
I give the State of the County Address to theCounty Assembly. My government has set
priorities in the provision of critical services,
set development agenda and is implementing
the five year strategic plan. Consequently, aswe celebrate Jamhuri day, as a County we
celebrate significant achievements realized in
key sectors of our economy such as provision
of Infrastructure, Health, Water, Education,Agriculture, Social Amenities, Trade and Land.
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3.1 Infrastructure
Ladies and gentlemen,
My government has in the past year embarked
on an aggressive program to gravel, grade and
upgrade roads across the County. We recently
completed re-carpeting Maua bank street loopwhile works on other streets is on-going. In
addition we have rolled out road upgrading of
approximately 600KMs across 45 Wards.
Further, we have also constructed over 500gabions, box culverts and bridges at the
following places: Kibubungi river in Kibirichia
Ward, Kameria-Atheri bridge in Kisima Ward,
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Marama bridge in Ruiri Ward, Rikii-Nkando
bridge in Timau Ward and Akithii box culvertto name but a few.
You are already aware that the tarmacking of
10 KM probase pilot project on Kianjai-Miathene-Mikinduri road is on course. The use
of probase technology to upgrade
approximately 300 KMs to bitumen standards
will usher in new technology of roadconstruction in Kenya. I am aware some
politicians and sceptics are misguiding people
about the source of money and who is
constructing the road. Let me assure you thatthe County Government of Meru is funding
the construction of the road with technology
outsourced from Malaysia.
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3.2 Health
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I have said before Health is a fully devolved
function. For this reason, my government has
made significant steps to revamp the sector.Due to the past gross neglect of some of the
health facilities in the County, it has taken a lot
of time and resources to rehabilitate facilities
and services. In particular, my government hasconcentrated in upgrading Meru Level 5
hospital because it is the regions referral
health facility.
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Next week on December 17 th l will launch astate-of-the art dialysis and cancer screening
Centre with equipment which have been
already acquired and installed at Meru Level 5
Hospital. Moreover, we have created aTrauma Centre to cater for auxiliary conditions
related to cancer and renal diseases.
Through collaboration with Kenya MethodistUniversity (KEMU) Meru Level 5 Hospital will
be upgraded to a teaching and referral
hospital. This means specialists will not only
use the hospital for teaching and training ofdoctors but also will be able to treat patients
with referral health conditions.
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3.3 Water
Ladies and gentlemen,
My government has made significant steps to
deal with the problems of water scarcity in the
County. Recently, we were able to construct 5rain water harvesting tanks in Igembe North.
The tanks have 225,000 cubic meters capacity.
Last week we signed an agreement to
construct 35 more tanks in the dry belt in theCounty. Once completed the 40 tanks will be
able to serve over 65,000 people.
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Further, this financial year my government is
planning to procure a water drilling machineto sink boreholes across the county with a
target of 15 boreholes each year. As you may
be aware the current practice of hiring
borehole sinking and drilling equipment iscostly but because of lack of water we have
utilized such services to assist people to
access water.
The Water Bill has already been passed into
law and my government has taken
management steps to streamline, enhance
efficiency, seal revenue leakages and cut onduplication of roles in water supply by
merging the two main water companies in the
County: these are IMETHA and MEWASS. The
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merging of the two companies will ensure
seamless and harmonious operations indelivery of water services to our people. The
law will also assist the Community Water
Projects to be transformed into Cooperatives
for easy management of the projects. Further,the government has signed agreement to
borrow money for the renovation and
expansion of the MEWASS water treatment
facility. I am aware that water problems havepersisted in the last few months arising from
the water treatment plant being old and
inadequate.
3.4 Education
Ladies and gentlemen,
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The employment of ECD teachers and the
construction of ECDE classrooms in everyWard have produced a combined effect of
improving enrolment by 10% this year. Indeed,
our County was the first County to employ
ECD teachers and we will continue to recruitmore in the next financial year.
My government want to assure the
Polytechnic Tutors that although the NationalGovernment has stopped paying them, my
government will pay their salaries by the end
of this month including all arrears.
The role a community has to play in the lives
of its younger generation is to bequeath a
cultural heritage. To this end my government
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is in the process of researching, writing and
producing a Kimeru Dictionary to preserve ourrich language and heritage. In fact, many
people are interested in contributing to this
noble task. Today, I have received manuscripts
and vocabulary from some of those who arekeen to ensure our language grows. To those
who have donated their research work,
bequeathed manuscripts and hand written
words, let me sincerely thank you. They will beformally acknowledged when the Dictionary is
published. I still urge others with such manuals
to donate them and help to quicken the
process of gathering vocabulary for theDictionary.
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I am aware there are those peddling lies about
the cost of the Dictionary but let me say youcannot put a cost to preserving posterity and
cultural heritage. Whatever the cost we are
determined to produce the Dictionary
3.5 Agriculture
Ladies and gentlemen,
My Government is committed to buildingAgriculture as the backbone of our economy
through empowering the grassroot people
and promoting livestock and fisheries sectors.
We have constructed 45 greenhouses andconducted training to farmers who are
involved in such farming.
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The main flagship project in Agriculture is the
livestock project. We already have completedconstruction of livestock sale yards in
Ngundune and Muthara and others are
underway. Construction of a dairy milk
processing plant is also ongoing at KaguruATC. We have acquired semen to upgrade the
quality of cows and breeds. These
technological skills will be administered by
well qualified veterinary officers who will beemployed soon. To facilitate growth and
development in agriculture my government
has entered into an MOU with Agriculture
Finance Corporation (AFC) to extend loans tofarmers at a subsidized interest rate of
between 5% and 10%.
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3.6 Social Amenities
Ladies and gentlemen,
To make Meru County a home of Sports and to
contribute to sporting which has made many
heroes and heroins in Kenya, my Governmentis upgrading Kinoru Stadium to International
Standards. Already Ksh.100 Million has been
allocated and phase one construction work is
already on progress. Phase two will also get100 million to make Kinoru an International
Stadium that will be able to host International
Sports.
3.7 Trade
Ladies and gentlemen,
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I am pleased to inform you that my
government has already installed a fullyautomated revenue collection system linking
all sub counties to register real time reporting
of revenue collection. This system is critical to
expanding our revenue base and revenuecollection.
We also are spearheading the formation of a
county microfinance corporation to guide andshepherd all SACCOs into great institutions for
the economic prosperity of our people. In
addition, our budget for this financial year
factored in seed money to be loaned toSACCOs. Cheques will be released in January
2015.
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My government has good news for coffee
farmers who sold their coffee through ourfacilities. The money for the sold coffee will be
released to farmers before Christmas. We
urge all farmers to work on improving the
quality of their coffee reap better prices.
We are at advanced stage of creating a Meru
County Investment and Development
Corporation to act as a custodian of countyassets and to manage business on behalf of
the county. Management of all investments is
critical for trade and industry to thrive.
Therefore, we have intervened in the case ofNtimanyakiru SACCO to protect public funds
from embezzlement by ensuring a new board
is elected and formation of taskforce to
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ensure good corporate governance in
management of cooperatives. The CountyGovernment has already challenged in court
the fraudulent sale of Meru North Union
property in Nairobi.
3.8 Land
Ladies and gentlemen,
Land issues have been comprehensivelyaddressed by my government. Issuance of title
deeds is at advanced level in collaboration
with the National Government. As you are
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aware the Cabinet Secretary for Land sent a
good team that has been working with CountyOfficers in various areas to speed up the
process. A total of 200,000 title deeds are
expected to be issued out in the following
areas; Uringu, Akithii, Amwathi/Maua,Kiengu/Kanjoo, Akirangondu, Kianjai,
Antuambui, Athinga/Athanja, Kitharene,
Naathu, Kangeta, Kiguchwa and
Athiru/Ruujine, Kiirua/Nkando among others.
My government initiated dialogue among
residents of Tigania West and Buuri
successfully removing a court case thatobstructed land adjudication. Now, my
government is following the amicable
resolution of the dispute by involving all
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residents of those areas in the decision of
adjudication and demarcation process. Justyesterday, I met residents of Tigania West and
Buuri together with the respective
committees that helped to settle the dispute.
Lastly, a law has been passed which I assented
to last week creating a management structure
for Nyambene Community Conservancy.
Through this law my government will be ableto put in place management structures to
make the Conservancy viable, secure and an
economic asset in the County. I urge those
who persistently keep on opposing this nobleinitiative to abandon their individual interests
for the greater good of the community.
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4. Christmas and New Year 2015
Ladies and gentlemen,
Finally, I wish everyone in this County a Merry
Christmas and a prosperous new year 2015 full
of Gods blessings.