The Kajiado Electronic Development Application Management System (KeDAMS) was officially launched today at the County Headquarters. The automated system is expected to fast track development approval processes while improving efficiency of previously manual operations within the County Departments.
Speaking during the launch Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho said the interactive KeDAMS system will enable users to access key county services at their own comfort regardless of their location. He added that this was a major step for the County Government under the leadership of H.E Joseph Lenku to fully digitize operations and optimize revenue collection in all sectors.
Moshisho assured members of the public that the interactive system has incorporated views from various stakeholders and urged investors keen on development initiatives in the County to make use of the system to fast track their investment processes.
“Digitization of our services is not optional and we endeavor to fully digitize all our services so that members of the public have access to them with ease,โ said Moshisho.
He added that the launch of the new system was timely considering the current global situation with COVID-19 since it will eliminate paperwork and physical interactions; situations that are likely to exacerbate the spread of the virus.
The CECM Lands, Hamilton Parseina said the qualitative system will do away with subjective processes that were previously rife at the County Offices.
“This system will get rid of quacks who had previously infiltrated the manual approval processes in our County offices, only qualified professionals will interact with the system,”he said.
The Kajiado Electronic Development Application System (KeDAMS) is a web-based software application that automates the development applications that include planning proposals, architectural building proposals and associated civil, structural engineering designs and inspection processes.
Kajiado becomes the fourth County after Nairobi, Kiambu and Kisumu to launch the Electronic Development Application Management Systems. The Kajiado system has been advanced from all the previously launched ones with enhanced features that seal the loopholes exhibited by the systems in the other counties.
Today, is yet another day that we gather to celebrate our gallant heroes and heroines whose sacrifice and spirit to serve humanity resulted in the freedom we enjoy today.
We congregate here as a County, and as a Country at large, at a time we are experiencing the ravages of COVID 19, a disease that knocked on our lives unannounced and threatened to alter our lifestyles in unimaginable proportions.
The sky is becoming clearer and we have set out on a journey to recover from the pain and anguish of this pandemic.
My Government, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, worked very hard to put up measures that continue to arrest the spread of Covid 19.
The numbers are, however, not yet fully managed. I strongly urge our people to continue observing the laid out health protocols as the disease is still with us.
We shall continue to monitor the situation and give the necessary advisories to members of the public.
Mabibi na mabwana !
As Kenyans, we are known for our resilience. Our spirit to fight our wars and the thirst to overcome our challenges is well documented globally. We do not lose our wars, we only get setbacks. And when the setbacks come, we quickly spring back victoriously.
Covid 19 is a war we cannot afford to lose. We are duty bound to resuscitate our economy which has slowed down.
Our County is raring to go to ensure the economic investments that have been done do not crumble at the weight of this pandemic.
We are rising from the ashes. We are going to fully re-open our economy so that none of our children sleeps hungry. We shall re-open our economy so that none of those who lost jobs remain jobless.
We shall fully re-open our economy so that we can continue building this country from where we left in March 2020.
I wish to assure you that my government will walk hand in hand with the business community and other investors to ensure we are back to economic normalcy.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
The next general election is a whole 22 months away. As such therefore, our leaders ought to spend this time diligently and deliver on the promises they made to the people.
Here in Kajiado, I passionately call for a stop of divisive politics that threaten peaceful co-existence among ourselves.
Positive criticism is welcome as it has the potential to bring on board better ideas. However, vexatious criticism that is meant to derail ongoing development programmes will not be allowed to take root in this great County.
We are ready to work with like-minded leaders regardless of their party or political affiliations so that we fast track our development agenda.
My people;
We continue to cooperate with our President Uhuru Kenyatta on all possible fronts. We have keenly followed his advisories on development and matters politics.
We particularly note his desire to have political rhetoric toned down to give development a chance. We fully support this stance.
We continue to be steadfast in his spirit of uniting this country under the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as well as his Handshake with Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga. Hapo ndio tuko !
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Today, we have a special Mashujaa Day. For the first time in the history of Mashujaa Day, we have our heroes and heroines sitting here with us.
In our Heroes Corner over there, sit great men and women who played critical roles in shaping what our County is today.
Their love for our people and their commitment to excel in whatever cause they pursued, remains one of our greatest motivations; a rare gem in our lives.
For some of the heroes and heroines, we are glad that we are sharing their courageous deeds with their kin. What a sight to behold to see face to face the heroes and heroines, some of whom we only read in history books!
My Great people of Kajiado;
Today, we become the FIRST COUNTY in this Republic to give special recognition to our homegrown heroes and heroines. Towards this end, we shall confer Lifetime Achievement and Recognition Awards to 20 Heroes and Heroines, a ritual I promised will be annual.
The 20, most of whom are being represented by their families here, belong to a long list of men and women whose contribution to our peopleโs future, back then, was impactful.
For this, I humbly turn to them and say, โMungu Awabariki sana na awape afya njema.โ
In the list of our forefathers, we have a guest hero among the Maa people, Senteu Ole Mbatiany, a gallant fighter who bravely defended African rights and played a leading role in the fight against colonial rule in Kenya.
Much later, there were government chiefs who became a critical link between the Government of the day and the people.
Today, we remember Mutunkei Ole Choonka, the leader of the Iltareto age-set, and the first colonial chief of the Ilkaputiei. In this league is Matayian Ole Risa from Ildamat and Lenku Ole Mpaa from the Ilkisonko community.
Mzee Peter Shompole Ole Leroka, who is here with us, was a brave warrior in the struggle for Independence and later became a veteran educator. (Karibu sana papa)
In the category of great minds and promoters of education, we shall today honour Reverend John Tompo Ole Mpaayei, Jonathan Simitia Ole Solitei, Loise Mpayiai Nkaaka (Who is here with us, all the way from Kimana), Gideon Saina Ole Mpoke, Zipporah Senterua Pelo (Also here with us),Jason Ole Sein and Prof Geoffrey Ole Maloiy.
Among us today also, ladies and gentlemen, is a lady who has gallantly fought for the girl child education in Maasai land; Priscilla Naisula Nangurai (Karibu sana maam).
As Kajiado, we have also had great leaders who left an indelible mark due to their able and dedicated leadership amid a myriad of challenges.
Today, we spare a thought for Godfrey Kimoisa Ole Kipury, the first Senator of Kajiado; Stanley Shapashina Oloitipitip, a long serving Cabinet Minister; Prof George Saitoti, a long serving Cabinet Minister and Vice President of the Republic of Kenya; multi-party and second liberation crusader John Keen and Major General (Rtd) Joseph Kasaine Ole Nkaiserry who served as Member of Parliament in Kajiado Central, where we are, and later became Cabinet Secretary in the Republic of Kenya.
All these great leaders made Kajiado occupy a seat on the high table of national politics and most of them really inspired some of us to become leaders. We are proud of them.
Still, we cannot forget our local leaders such as David Lemomo Ole Kapeen, the founder chairman of OlKejuado County Council and Mr Francis Lemeeki Ole Legis, also a former chairman of the Olkejuado County Council.
We are grateful to these dutiful souls and we pray that we all learn from them the power of selfless service to humanity.
I now take this special opportunity and honour to CONFER to each of these heroes and heroines A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT & RECOGNITION AWARD for their service to Kajiado people and Kenyans in general.
H.E the Governor launched the Kajiado County Renewable Energy Atlas, a one stop information platform that maps out areas for potential investment in renewable energy.
Alternative and environmental friendly sources of energy is the next big area of investment and job creation in this era of Climate Change.
โWe have opened up our County to investors in renewable energy with concrete information on existing and potential solar energy sites, Biomass sites among others. I pass my gratitude to our partners, Arid Lands Information Network ( ALIN) and HIVOS for their input. Let us all protect our environment to safeguard our existenceโ the Governor said.
The County Government of Kajiado, Department of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change partnered with Green Africa Foundation (GAF), Ewaso Ngiro South Development Authority(ENSDA), Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) , Compact Poles, kazi mtaani and media fraternity in plant your age (tree planting) initiative campaign held at Nkaimurunya Ward in Ongata Rongai.
The landscape of Oloitokitok town is destined for a total transformation when my urban centres upgrading programme is finally completed.
H.E the Governor has inspected the ongoing cabrol works in the town as well as the ongoing construction of Ilasit Market.
The integrated market which is nearing completion sits on a 9- acre County Government land and will hold 500 traders.
A link road from Ilasit town centre to the market is also being constructed to ease transportation of goods and people.The market will also have a livestock sale yard.
The Governorโs vision to make our urban centres friendly trading hubs is on course.
As part of the continuous reforms at the Department of Lands, The Kajiado County Government has launched issuance of 12,657 new generation plot allotment letters. The brief ceremony at the County Headquarters was presided over by H.E. Joseph Ole Lenku in the presence of the county leadership and members of public.
In his speech, Lenku said the new allotment letters will be issued to land owners in 26 towns after a rigorous validation process carried out by the Lands Department to ascertain legal ownership of parcels of land by the holders. He said the allotment letters have eight extra unique security features that make them impermeable to fraudulent activities from land cartels adding that this has given financial institutions the confidence to use them as collateral for credit services.
He said Kajiado continues being a model County for development in all fronts and was it not for the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, a big Lands conference was in the pipeline to showcase the advancements made since 2017. He was full of praise for all departments for their commitment in helping him realize his development track record as promised in his elections manifesto.
Speaking on matters health, Lenku urged members of the public to heed Ministry of Health Guidelines on social distancing, use of masks and basic hygiene including hand wash and use of sanitizers. He said the Corona Virus infects regardless of genders and age groups; not just the old and sickly as most people have been speculating. He said the County has played its part in mitigating the spread of the virus through setting up and equipping of isolation centres and called on individual responsibility from all residents
“I commend all front-line health workers because through their dedication we have seen a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in the County,”said Lenku.
Also present at the function was Speaker Johnson Osoi who expressed his satisfaction with the way the validation exercise was carried out and termed the issuance of the new allotment letters as remedy to historical flaws in issuance of title deeds that had been marred by controversies and underhand dealings that caused anxiety to most land buyers.He further implored upon the Governor to fast track efforts in physical planning of smaller towns in the County to set a good precedence for successive regimes. Osoi assured the support of the County Assembly in this endeavor.
His sentiments were echoed by Hon. Paul Matuyia who said the new allotment letters will rid off land cartels and while members of the public will benefit through access of credit facilities from financial lenders with the letters as security. He requested the Lands Department liaise with a view of finalizing on land disputes cases before tribunals on double allotments of land parcels.
Lands CEC, Hamilton Parseina said the Kajiado Lands Registry had previously been ranked 3rd in the list of the most corrupt in the country but through stringent streamlining measures, the reforms have placed Kajiado as the model bench marking County in matters Lands.
It is expected that 50 towns will be targeted in the next phase of the Validation exercise until all land owners are authenticated and confirmed.
It will now be mandatory for every private or commercial building to have water harvesting and storage facilities.
A new law that has come into force today will require those who intend to build houses or commercial buildings to prove their water harvesting and storage infrastructure being the County Government approves their building plans.
The law which has 90 days grace period meaning the regulations will start taking effect after three months or November 2020.
The already existing buildings will be given 18 months to COMPLY after which the County Government will take action against building owners without water harvesting Infrastructure.
The new law is the work of Nominated MCA Onesmus Ngogoyo whose Kajiado County Water Harvesting Bill was enacted into an ACT after it was signed by Governor Joseph Ole Lenku earlier today.
The law also provides for the County Government to assist public buildings such as schools and hospitals with upto 50 per cent of the cost required to put up the water harvesting facilities.
The Governor lauded Mr Ngogoyo’s Bill as one of the most transformative legislations since devolution came in.
“This is the first Private Members Bill am signing into law.It will really help us conserve the fresh rain water that goes to waste every rainy season,” said the Governor.
He challenged other MCAs to emulate Mr Ngogoyo and seek to leave a legacy by coming with laws that change residentsโ lives for the better.
An elated Ngogoyo who witnessed the signing of the law together with Mosiro MCA Peter Tirishe said the law will enable Kajiado residentsโ access clean water especially because it is a water scarce County.
“The law provides for the County Government to construct water pans, shallow wells and protect water sources to conserve more water for the dry seasons,” said Mr Ngogoyo.
It was a pleasure and honor for Kajiado County to host, as well as witness, the flagging off of newly recruited health personnel (through the partnership of UNDP and UN Volunteers (UNV) programme) deployed to 14 counties including Kajiado County as part of UNDPโs continued support towards the fight of COVID-19 in the Country. The volunteers bring a range of skills and experience that will boost the fight against COVID-19 at the County level.
This support is crucial considering human resource for health is a crucial component in the fight against corona virus. As a County , therefore urge all our development partners to also consider supporting us by targeting human resource development measures including offering trainings to our staff, supply of personal protective equipmentโs (PPEs), and even send their staff to the health sector among other areas of support.
In the last 24 hours, we have received 14 new positives for COVID-19 disease in the County (as reported by the Ministry of Health). We note that 8 of these cases (6 health workers from Kajiado Central and 2 cases from Kajiado East) were processed in Namanga and we had already captured their details in our report of 30th June 2020. This brings the total new additional cases for today to be 6 and the cumulative confirmed positive cases for the County at 241 with 6 deaths.
Out of the 6 positive cases, 5 are from Kajiado North (2 are health care workers working in private facilities in Nairobi County, 3 are residents of Ongata Rongai, Kiserian, and Ngong and were tested privately).
Kajiado Central had 1 positive case from Kajiado town and a contact of a previous case.
The cumulative positives in the county are now distributed as follows:
Kajiado Central 133
Kajiado South 29
Kajiado East 41
Kajiado North 36
Kajiado West 2
The total number of positive cases who have reported successful recoveries from our treatment centres remains at 141. All our positive cases are stable and receiving treatment at our isolation and treatment facilities with some being placed on home based care. Contact tracing is ongoing.
Once again we note with a lot of concern the rate of health worker infection is on an upward trend. We continue to appeal to our health workers, continuously and in an appropriate manner, to strictly use the provided personal protective equipmentโs (PPEs) as you offer various services to the public and also to note that there are possibilities of community transmission out of the environs of our health facilities.
In the next few days, we are rolling out another phase of trainings and capacity building to our health workers as well as initiate a programme of regular testing. These trainings will be geared towards Infection Prevention and Control measures as well as case management.
At the same time, we continue to congratulate all our frontline health workers who have been working extremely hard, with heroism, dedication and selflessness. We most sincerely acknowledge your efforts and may God richly bless you.
Speech by H.E the Governor during the flagging off of 50 United Nations volunteers in support of the Kenyan Governmentโs National COVID 19 Response on July 1, 2020.
Devolution CAS, Hon. Abdul Bahari,
My colleague Governors and Deputy Governors present,
The United Nations family led by Resident Coordinator, Siddhart Chatterjee,
The UNDP Resident Representative, Walid Badawi,
My Brother, Devolution PS, Charles Sunkuli,
My sister, Health PS, Susan Mochache,
The County Assemblies Forum CEO, Judy Oduma,
Our Speaker, Hon Johnson Osoi.
Ladies and gentlemen;
I welcome you all to Kajiado County. Karibuni sana.
Bwana CAS: It is three and a half months now since our countryโs index Covid-19 case was discovered in Ongata Rongai within my county. Also, for its unique geographical position, Kajiado remains the most of the high risk counties. We are sandwiched between our nationโs capital, Nairobi, the epi-centre of the spread of the virus, and a 700 km stretch of the Kenya-Tanzania boundary. Not only that, we border six other counties; Narok, Nakuru,Kiambu, Machakos, Makueni and Taita Taveta.
In a sense, therefore, we are the playground of cross border transmission. And it is so, both, locally and internationally.
Bwana CAS, therefore, it couldnโt have been more apt than to choose our county to be the launching pad of this important effort; an effort geared towards the fight against this marauding pandemic.
For us in Kajiado, we believe in a united front against this pandemic. I have had countless encounters and engagements with the Ministry of Health officials as we continue with this important war.
Therefore, todayโs encounter with the Ministry of Devolution and ASALs is yet another indicator that this pandemic is not just a health matter. It is affecting our lives in so many ways that each and every one of us has a role to play to contain the virus.
Bwana CAS,
The tremendous negative impact of COVID 19 has effectively been devolved. The rising cases of intra-county, inter-county and inter-community transmissions clearly confirm that the virus is now with us; and is affecting our peopleโs lives in scales that we may take a while to recover from.
Seized of the dire need to set the pace in our preparedness to contain COVID 19, my Government has taken several measures:-
We have set up five isolation centres in our health facilities.
These are Kajiado Referral Hospital;
Kitengela Sub County Hospital; Ole Kasasi Health Centre; Namanga Health Centre and Oloitokitok Sub County Hospital.
We have set aside Ngong Sub County Hospital, Ngโatataek Health Centre and the KMTC Oloitokitok as COVID 19 Hospitals and Treatment Centres. In fact, health services that were being offered here have been referred to neighbouring facilities.
We now have 20 ICU beds in the county. Plans are under way to scale up this to 50 ICU beds.
We have just achieved the mandatory 300 beds capacity at our Isolation Centres. But owing to our unique situation as an emerging theatre of the virus transmission, we are set to have a total of 700 beds which are currently being made by our Vocational Training Centres(VTCs).
We have trained 720 health workers (or 60 %) of our health work force. We are looking for more support to train the remaining ones.
This pandemic has also re-awakened our creativity and innovation instincts.
To offer our people protective devices, our Vocational Training Centres started to manufacture face masks and sanitizers which we give free of charge to our residents. So far, we have made in excess of 100,000 masks and more than 5,000 litres of sanitizers.
Additionally, we have installed hand-washing facilities at all the main public places.
Ladies and gentlemen: This is just a snippet of what we have already done. We are doing much more on the ground going forward.
Bwana CAS,
The Health nightmare is not the only impact of COVID 19. We have experienced loss of livelihoods as the output of our economy shrinks.
Thousands of our people are now more food insecure than at any other time.
More than 30,000 households in my county are in dire need of relief food support. So far, we have only managed to assist 10,000 families.
My Government is implementing a digital food distribution programme. Let me tell you how it works.
The County Government through our national and county administrative grassroot structures identifies vulnerable cases. A specially generated PIN is sent to each beneficiary to their mobile phones via SMS. The message asks the beneficiary to present the PIN to a pre-selected retail outlet within a walking distance from their homes.
Meanwhile, the pre-selected retailer has an APP (M-Riziki) installed on his /her phone which is used to VERIFY the personal details of the beneficiary.
Once verified, the retailer hands over our pre-packed relief food hamper to the beneficiary.
This ICT-driven initiative, Bwana CAS, has the following benefits;
It reduces crowding and scramble for relief food in public places in this COVID 19 sensitive time.
It has restored the dignity of vulnerable people as they are not exposed to public ridicule when collecting food.
It has boosted the local economy as County Government buys relief food from local shops and pays immediately via MPESA.It has reduced logistical nightmares associated with physical food distribution.
It is highly accountable. Every transaction is digitally monitored and reported to the County Governmentโs back office system.
This digital distribution of relief food is working very well. I wish to invite our national and international friends to partner with us to reach more vulnerable households through this system.
Bwana CAS,
I wish to come to a close at this point. I look forward to receiving my countyโs share of the UN Volunteers.
They are very welcome here and we look forward to working with them in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.
The County Government of Kajiado has received reports of 6 new Covid-19 positive cases bringing the cumulative number to 88 patients since the 13th of March 2020 when the first case was reported. The distributions of the new positive cases are as follows;
Kajiado central -5 (3 local and 2 truck drivers).
Kajiado east -1 (mortality).
They were all evacuated to various isolation and treatment centers within and out of the County. Contact listing and tracing by our surveillance team has started immediately. It is so unfortunate that as a County we have registered the first Covid-19 death case, the deceased was buried today as per MOH guidelines. The County Government administration would like to pass our heartfelt condolences to the family and Friends may his soul rest in eternal peace.
Our isolation and treatment centres have 20 patients admitted currently, and the number has been steadily increasing. We would also like to report that our fight against the pandemic suffered a setback when the emergency response team was blocked from accessing the Namanga hotspot to take samples, trace contacts and attend to patients.
Sadly later the situation worsened with our only ambulance based in Namanga attacked at Ilbissil community demonstration while ferrying a critically ill patient to Kajiado County Referral Hospital. Members of the public are informed to avoid blocking lifesaving emergency services which benefit the general public.
Lastly we would like to remind everyone of us to become more careful, practice all prevention measures and incase of any feeling of being unwell, seek medical attention early. Kindly let’s all continue visiting our health facilities for routine health services and screening.
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