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Devolution powering

transformation in Mandera

espite systematic marginalisation since the Sustainable Development Goals, the national
independence, Mandera is now charting reproductive health policy and Vision 2030. The
Da course of resilience and transformation. overall objective of the strategy was to accelerate
That’s the journey we embarked on at the advent the reduction of maternal, newborn, and childhood
of devolution in 2013. morbidity and mortality. Besides increased invest-
ment in the health sector, the Mandera County
In the first five years of devolution, we developed Government has made maternal and neonatal child
policies and initiated actions on many fronts. Their healthcare a top priority.
impact on the lives of our people have been trans-
formative and far-reaching. These policies and Regarding infrastructure, we constructed 24 kilo-
programmes are the building blocks that will con- metres of tarmac roads within Mandera Town and
tinue to empower residents of Mandera, restruc- improved the road network in the country. These are
ture our local economy and guarantee definitive historic developments in Mandera, whose benefits
public service that is beyond reproach. were immediately felt. For instance, journeys that Similar interventions were initiated in the health
previously took days or weeks are now taking hours. sector. The county partnered with the Ken-
We identified crucial sectors such as road infra- ya Medical Training College to create skilled
structure, water supply, health and education that The national government has complimented this manpower to fill vacancies for the positions of
are fundamental for growth. We are not about lofty with the 150-kilometre road project between Rhamu nurses, clinical officers and technicians. These
ideals and fads. Our priorities remain focused on and Elwak. efforts have gone a long way in improving
practical projects that will directly benefit resi- healthcare and service delivery.
dents of Mandera and transform their lives for the We have constructed 127 boreholes, opened up
better. additional 153 trucking sites and built 21 water pans In addition, we have expanded an Early Child-
and dams. These projects now benefit 214,000 hood Development and Education (ECDE)
To achieve our strategic goal, we have partnered households across the county. Further, we have in- training college to lay a strong foundation for
with other organisations such as the Kenya Medi- creased water production capacity in the county to our children. We have also strengthened the
cal Research Institute (KEMRI), with whom we are more than 12 million cubic metres annually. Technical Training Institute and sponsored
working to build a cutting-edge regional research several students currently training in our facil-
centre. Our resilience was greatly tested during the first ities.
two years immediately after devolution, especially
The centre will help in the development of effec- in matters security following repeated terror attacks. The county government also set out to lev-
tive disease prevention and control strategies. The insecurity at the time resulted in many non-lo- erage the pastoralist lifestyle in Mandera by
These synergies are designed to benefit the Ken- cals migrating from the county, leading to a great transforming it into a viable economic way of
ya Medical Training College and will be linked deficit in skilled labour. But we have stayed the life. The milestones so far are remarkable. Our
with our Teaching and Referral Hospitals in Elwak course. The issue of insecurity has been dealt with dairy demonstration farm today has one of the
and Mandera Town, as well as the planned Live- in conjunction with the national government, and our country’s best livestock. Plans are iunderway to
stock Research and Veterinary training College. efforts to create a skilled local manpower base are roll out this initiative to more farmers.
We will commit KSh500 million in the 2018/19 already bearing fruit.
budget towards this research centre. Already Further investment includes planned construc-
KEMRI has been allocated 100 acres of land to Interventions by the county government include tar- tion of a regional veterinary college and live-
put up the centre, which is expected to serve the geted investment in tertiary institutions to produce stock research centre. This will bring services
Horn of Africa region. skilled local manpower that is best-suited to the and availability of relevant information even
unique needs and circumstances of Mandera. The closer to the pastoralist community in the North
Before devolution, Mandera County held the in- county has invested in a Teachers’ Training College Eastern and Horn of Africa region.
glorious record of having the world’s worst health that will produce graduates to fill the gap left by the
indicators. When we came to office, the county’s exodus of non-locals. The first batch of teachers
Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) stood at 3,795 from the college will be absorbed by local schools H.E. Capt. Ali Ibrahim Roba,
deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to the this year.
national average of 488 deaths per 100,000 live Governor
births.

Out of the 53 health facilities we inherited, only Mandera
three were operational. But even then, they were A JOURNEY OF RESILIENCE County Government: Two years of Transformation
Volume 01| April 2015
only operating at less than 10% capacity. We also AND TRANSFORMATION
inherited 154 healthcare workers from the nation-
al government, most of them unskilled.
To address this formidable challenge, we devel-
oped an investment strategy that is aligned with PROPOSED MANDERA REGIONAL LIVESTOCK MARKET
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MANDERA COUNTY
GOVERNOR ALI IBRAHIM ROBA
DEPUTY GOVERNOR MOHAMED AHMED ARAI
ROBA TANO TENA | 2017-2022
CLIENT: MANDERA COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
CONSULTANTS:
Devolution making the difference
Two years of Transformation
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