Charity Ngilu hits ground running with health and food projects

Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu has pledged to focus on health, food and water as she unveiled a three-pronged ambitious plan to improve people's lives.

In the one month she has been in office, Mrs Ngilu, who campaigned on platform of exploiting her international networks, kicked off series of meetings with various donor agencies to build partnerships to fund her development agenda for the county.

PARTNESHIPS

The Governor met United States Ambassador to Kenya Robert Gordec in his office ahead of a joint programming meeting with USAid Director Karen Freeman and Jhpiego Country Director Mildred Mudany at their Nairobi offices, among other donors.

Mr Godec and Mrs Ngilu explored possible partnerships between her government and the United States government in the areas of energy, health, water, agriculture and democracy.

Jhpiego, an international health non-profit affiliated with United States’ Johns Hopkins University, agreed to support the employment of 60 nurses to be posted to the dispensaries that were not operational.

The 60 nurses recruited through the donor support from Jhpiego have already been deployed to rural health facilities to mitigate the ongoing nurses’ strike.

BOREHOLES

The caregivers deployed through a mobile health outreach programme launched in her first week in office.

The American donor will also renovate dilapidated health facilities and support mobile health services by partnering with Kitui County through the provision of four additional mobile clinics.

Mrs Ngilu has also met with Kenya Red Cross Secretary-General Abass Gullet to identify areas of partnership and secured support to rehabilitate 107 moribund boreholes.

Red Cross will also provide of certified seeds for November planting season.

In an interview with the Nation, Mrs Ngilu said the people of Kitui must feel a difference within the first 100 days of her administration, especially on her key election campaign pledges of provision of water, better health care and food security.

RELIEF FOOD

On food security, the county boss said she was determined to change the county's negative reputation of overreliance on relief food.

This, she said, would be achieved through provision of farm inputs, growing the  drought resistant crops, linkages with lucrative foreign markets and engaging in agro-processing.

“We will never again depend on the demeaning mwolyo (food aid). We shall grow our own food and find better paying markets” she said.

Speaking when she inspected county projects in Kitui Rural and Kitui South constituencies earlier in the week, Mrs Ngilu said her government would procure 15 new tractors, supply seeds to farmers and assist them to process and market their produce in order to raise their incomes.

MARKETS

“To achieve better results, we must modernise our agriculture and abandon the centuries-old tradition of ploughing farms with oxen. When I took over last month, I found only seven tractors but I will purchase 15 more” Mrs Ngilu said.

The governor asked Kitui farmers to grow green grams and cassava in plenty for export market, saying she will ensure that they are not exploited by brokers.

“I’ve already secured inexhaustible ready market for green grams in India while cassava will be processed into products to increase the incomes of women and youth” she said after launching a drive where farmers will get their farms tilled for free by county tractors as a subsidy for production.

Mrs Ngilu said her budget priorities would be based on the fact that food and water are basic needs for everyone and in whose absence, the county will be burdened.

HEALTH

"Making water available to every home will not only support agriculture but also improve people's sanitation and therefore free the health budget to other development programme because disease burden will be reduced" she said.

Mrs Ngilu, who was accompanied by her deputy Dr Wathe Nzau, gave a three-week ultimatum to the contractors doing the Sh650 million River Athi-Kanyangi-Mutomo-Kanziko-Ikutha water project to complete the works.

She added that a well-fed population would in turn be able to support itself in promoting high education and sanitation standards, which are equally low in the county.

For 10 years, Mrs Ngilu served as a cabinet minister for water and health ministries, which are both devolved functions and during her campaigns she was passionate about making a lasting impact in addressing the two challenges.

During the tour, the governor received medical equipment for Ikutha Hospital from the Belgian Government which were presented to her by Mr Kris Verspecht, the Managing Director of Soulco Kenya Limited.

She said her government would purchase a Sh60 million CT-Scan machine for Kitui County Referral Hospital and allocate more funds and staff to Ikutha Hospital to ensure residents get high quality health care.