News Categories: Education

Download the speech on the link provided below;

Governor’s Report Card speech 2018

The Kenya Medical Training College, KMTC will soon have a fully-fledged college within Kajiado town following a memorandum of understanding between the institution and the County Government of Kajiado in the presence of H.E. Joseph Ole Lenku.

The County Government has already earmarked land for construction of the college within the Kajiado referral Hospital; a second of its kind after the Loitokitok based campus.

In his remarks at his office today, Lenku said the people of Kajiado remain the number one priority in service delivery endeavors initiated by his government. He added that the trained students will supplement the efforts of the current workforce at the hospitals and as such reinforce service provision.

“I believe this expansion will strengthen the county’s health care provision by placing qualified personnel in our healthcare facilities. They will be instrumental in propelling the big four agenda of universal health coverage as championed by H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta,” he said.

Lenku assured his support for the expansion and pledged to allocate a sufficient budget towards provision of facilities within the institutions through concerted efforts with like-minded investors.

“The county will invest in the facilities within this institution through construction of classrooms and laboratories because I believe the people of Kajiado will access the training at KMTC and ultimately be absorbed in our health institutions as professionals in various medical fields,” he said.

Towards this end Lenku pointed out that a recruitment desk will be set up at the Kajiado Referral Hospital to cater to locals hoping for admission to the institution.

KMTC Board Chairman, Prof. Philip Kaloki intimated that the County Government has agreed among other things to rollout areas of development in provision of land for construction of classroom, medical

Laboratories and other physical amenities that may be required by the students.

He revealed that an admission office will be established to ensure equity in admission of students to the institution that will ensure that 30% of the admissions are locals.

“During the admission we would like to ensure that we balance our admission processes by considering all wards in the various sub counties and ensure we recruit locals from Kajiado County,” said Kaloki.

He mentioned that KMTC Loitokitok campus will be expanded to accommodate more courses that will ultimately see the students absorbed by the hospitals in their localities for the benefit of the people.

“We are hoping to realign our courses there to have such programs as nursing care,clinical medicine and medical engineering that will increase training opportunities in tune with the universal healthcare coverage in the next four years,” said Kaloki.

The construction and expansion of the Kajiado and Loitokitok campuses respectively come hot on the heels of an elaborate training program by the Kajiado County Government and The KCB Foundation that saw 300 students sponsored to train in skills development; a venture that will see them empowered for self-employment and placement in the upcoming industries in the county.

The County Government of Kajiado through the Department of Education and Vocational training will beginning next term utilize the County Government Management System in disbursement of bursaries to schools in the County.
This follows the recent budget for the FY 2018/19 which availed Ksh 40M which will be available and ready for disbursement to needy students at the beginning of the third term of school.
Speaking in his office today, Seki Lenku, the CECM in charge of Education said the new bursary disbursement system has been designed in such a way that the applicants do not necessarily need to present their applications physically at their respective ward offices but rather make them online.
“Plans are at an advanced stage to kick start disbursement of bursaries through electronic funds transfers that will cut down on cases of bad cheques being issued to schools,” he said.
Once the selection committee completes their vetting process , the transfer of bursary funds will be done directly from the system to the specified schools bank accounts in a fool proof system that will ensure efficiency and transparent allocation of money to the beneficiaries.
Seki said such initiatives by his ministry coupled with the county sponsored ‘Uji program’ which heavily relies on provision of food rations to school going children in primary schools; currently in its second phase, will go a long way in ensuring high school enrollment and equal learning opportunities to learners in the county.
Training on the new management system has kicked off earnestly for staff in the department of education and cascade to Sub county and Ward administrators then to MCAs who are in the bursary and education committee in the coming weeks.

The cooperation of teachers, parents and other education stakeholders is critical in pursuit of good academic grades.

The school community must cooperate with other players in the education sector to realize improved academic performance.

Governor Joseph Ole Lenku said this cooperation will help his government fast track support and projects that aim at ensuring schools perform better.

“There are massive benefits between the cooperation of parents, teachers and students. This unity will spur Success, “said the Governor.

Governor Lenku spoke at Meshanani Primary School, the 2017 best school in Kajiado South Sub County.

The Governor cited examples of schools that had been weighed down by lack of this cooperation leading to dismal performance.

Governor Lenku has also said that his administration is keen on promoting education by encouraging the discarding of retrogressive cultural practices such as FGM which had a direct impact on education among girls.

The County Government stands firm in supporting institutions that offer vocational training as a means of bringing forth a technical workforce that will spur development agenda.

At today’s third graduation ceremony of The Maasai Technical Training Institute (MTTI), graced by H.E. Deputy President William Ruto, the H.E the Governor was pleased to announce that together with the institution’s board of management, the County Government has developed a program that targets young men and women from the villages for enrollment at the institution for skills development.

“The first batch of 300 County sponsored students will join MTTI in the coming week and we hope that in the next four years more than 1000 individuals will have been absorbed into this program. Our Members of County Assembly have played a huge role in vetting these individuals from their various Wards and as such the selection will be representative of all corners of our County” said the Governor.

The Governor firmly believes that Kajiado is one of the anchor Counties of industrialization due to its proximity to Nairobi and as such it is prudent that there is sufficient workforce to cater for the industrial opportunities provided.

H.E the Governor congratulate all the graduates and above all He wishes them well in their endeavor to utilize their acquired skills and knowledge in steering development of this great County.

H.E the Governor delivering his speech during the third graduation at M.T.T.I grounds,Kajiado.

There is need for the County and National government departments of education to work together to ensure that students in Kajiado County post good results in national exams.

The County Governor, Joseph Ole Lenku said devolution had brought with it development and much needed services closer to the people adding that the performance of students in national exams ought to equally improved.

“We want to see schools within Kajiado County appear among the list of well performing schools in the country,” he said.

Ole Lenku further said his government has adopted a program based budget approach as a measure to gauge performance of ministries and departments in the County government. He revealed that the education sector has been allocated a substantial budget in the next financial year with this in mind.
“Our children are more interested in having a conducive learning environment and a good support structure and that is the least we should offer them” he exclaimed.

The Governor was speaking in Kajiado today during an award ceremony for top students from the County who excelled in the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, KCPE Exams.

He intimated that he was aware of the challenges experienced by educationists and assured them of partnership together with key stakeholders in the sector. He urged stakeholders not to shy away from holding major education conferences in the County owing to lack of finances assuring them of support from his Government in such initiatives.

Speaking at the same function, Edna Lenku, the First Lady of Kajiado County, urged parents not to abandon their role in raising responsible children to the teachers.
“It is important that you monitor your children and tap into their skills by encouraging them and mentoring them,” she said.

The first lady applauded teachers for committing their time and resources in molding the young learners to be responsible people in the society.
The County Minister in charge of education, Samuel Seki said that his ministry will soon embark on an inspection tour of schools within the County to curb cases of errant teachers who are notorious for absconding their duties.
“We cannot post good results in National exams if the teachers entrusted to teach our children do not show up at their work stations,” said Seki.
He called upon teachers to be at the fore front of pushing for good results adding that the government had committed Kshs 40M to bursaries for the children to learn and perform well.

The first lady’s County Education and Motivation Award program seeks to reward good performance of learners at public primary school and guiding them in their transition into secondary and tertiary school education. Through this, it is hoped that the children will be proactive and openly discuss their struggles both academic and personal in a bid to empower them to be all round citizens. The initiative which has the full backing of the County Government and stakeholders in the education sector hopes to track the learners through the various levels of education until they are placed in gainful employment.

During the luncheon, Oldonyo Oibor Primary from Kajiado South with a mean score of 327.48 took home the first prize followed by Rombo Girls at 327.48 whereas Maparasha Primary from Kajiado Central was third with 326.37

(more…)