Page 13 - MANDERA-COUNTY- REVIEW-3RD-EDITION

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Devolution delivering services

closer to the people

In the last five years, the Mandera County Government has prudently utilised
the funds allocated to it from the national Treasury. The funds include money
collected locally and funds from development partners to resuscitate the
local economy that greatly suffered from successive marginalisation since
independence. We have put in place basic infrastructure for all sectors in order
to deliver crucial services to the people at the grassroots to transform their
living conditions
he people of Mandera, just like those in suring availability of drugs and skilled health
other semi-arid counties, greatly ben- workers.
Tefited from the promulgation of the 2010 Before devolution, a majority of the wards were
Constitution of Kenya that heralded a paradigm inaccessible by road. It would, for instance, government has invested in a teachers’ train-
shift in governance and resources distribution. take two days to travel to Banisa and Takaba ing college that will produce graduate teach-
Mandera County Government exemplifies the sub-counties from Mandera Town. The poor ers. We have also set up early childhood de-
success and benefits of devolution. For the road network, a result of neglect by previous velopment and education training centres for
first time, our people are able to benefit direct- national governments, made travelling by road ECD teachers, and established the Mandera
ly from national resources. The county, being within Mandera very tedious. Technical Training Institute for vocational train-
one of the least developed of Kenya’s 47, had The County Government of Mandera, within ing. Additionally, the county has partnered with
the herculean task of catching up with the oth- a span of just two years, built an all-weather Kenya Medical Training College to establish
ers that were more developed. This, coupled murram roads to connect remote villages in a training college that will produce nurses,
with prevailing insecurity from terrorism, made all sub-counties. Mandera Town was given a clinical officers and technicians from the local
the first five years very challenging. However, facelift with the construction of tarmac road population.
Mandera County Government overcame these within the town. The national government is The other sectors that received massive in-
hurdles to successfully established functioning currently working on a 153km tarmac road vestment from the county in the last five years
systems of governance and laid the foundation connecting Rhamu and Elwak, a project that include agriculture and livestock, trade and
for economic growth and development. industry, public service and cohesion and in-
is nearing completion. The improved road net-
In the last five years, the Mandera County Gov- work greatly enhanced the movement of goods tegration, and social service. In agriculture,
ernment has prudently utilised the funds allo- and people between towns, thus reducing the for instance, the county operationalised all the
cated to it from the national Treasury. The funds cost of doing business. previously stalled irrigation schemes such as
include money collected locally and funds BP1, Gadudia, Aresa, Hareri, Shantoley and
from development partners to resuscitate the In another front, the county government was Rhamu Dimtu. Irrigation canals were increased
local economy that greatly suffered from suc- confronted with a dire situation of water short- by a total distance of 7.8km of main concrete
cessive marginalisation since independence. age in most settlements across the county at and lateral canals for increased and efficient
We have put in place basic infrastructure for the beginning of the first term of devolution. We flow of water to the farms.
all sectors in order to deliver crucial services spent a huge chunk of the resources in the last Many of the challenges we experienced at in-
to the people at the grassroots and transform five years, building earth pans and mega dams ception are now behind us. We have stream-
besides drilling and equipping new boreholes.
their lives. We also repaired and reequipped existing lined procurement processes and financial
In the health sector, the county government boreholes across the county. Overall, Mandera management at the county Treasury and put
in place well-trained and highly motivated
inherited dilapidated infrastructure and non- County is now water secure and for the first work force. We are now finalising our county
operational facilities in all the sub-counties. time in five years no water trucking was done in integrated development plan (CIDP) for 2018-
There were no drugs and other basic ameni- the dry spell of December 2017, January and 2022, which involved rigorous stakeholder en-
ties. We had the worst health indicators in the February of 2018, even though we have well- gagements and needs assessment meetings
world. The County Government under the able maintained water bowsers owned by the coun- at the grassroots. Our focus is to place re-
leadership of H.E Ali Ibrahim Roba managed to ty Government on standby. The focus now is sources in programmes that have the greatest
turn around the sorry state of our health sector shifting from provision of water to provision of positive impact in the long run for our commu-
by investing in modern health infrastructure in clean and potable water to all the settlements. nities. The 2018-2022 CIDP will be the basis for
all wards. The new facilities include operating In Education, Mandera County Government developing our annual plans and budgets over
theatres, modern laboratories, in-patient wards stepped in to avert crisis of mass exodus of the next five years. The programme-based ap-
and paediatric centres. The county employed non-local teachers on security grounds, as proach that we are adopting will reduce du-
and deployed medical staff to all the health fa- they were targeted by Al-Shaabab terrorists. plication of projects and reduce wastage in
cilities, including the new ones. These invest- The county government employed untrained all the sectors. This transformative vision and
ments have led to a reduction in child mortality local teachers for both secondary and primary development plan will help Mandera County
rates, and an increase in access to specialised schools to supplement the few remaining lo- Government catch up with the most developed
treatment, as well as expansion of centres with cal teachers. In addition, the county also em- counties that benefited greatly from the nation-
specialised healthcare equipment. The focus ployed ECD teachers, who were deployed to al government since independence.
now is shifting to universal healthcare as part all schools to build strong foundation for early
of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agen- childhood education.
da. To this end, Mandera County Government H.E. MOHAMED AHMED ARAI
will continue expanding and improving on the As a long-term solution to fill the gap created DEPUTY GOVERNOR
health infrastructure in all wards, while en- by the exodus of skilled non-local workers in
the health and education sectors, the county