Cabinet Secretaries are racing against time to inspect and complete development projects ahead of September when they are to appear before President Uhuru Kenyatta for appraisals.
The first quarter of this new financial year, 2020-21, will end in September and the CSs are expected to present their reports to the President on the status of projects being implemented by their line ministries.
During a meeting the President chaired a fortnight ago, he assured the CSs, Chief Administrative Secretaries and Principal Secretaries that he will not sack them. Instead, the state officers will be rated based on their performance and the completion of projects.
“As a measure of accountability, the President announced thatthe completion rate of projects and programmes will be adopted as a key performance indicator for all CSs, CASs and PSs,” State House spokesperson Kanze Dena said.
The President also ordered top government officials to get out of the comfort of their offices and tour development sites to interact with Kenyans. Since then, the CSs have been traversing the country rolling out development projects geared to consolidate Uhuru’s legacy ahead of his expected retirement in 2022.
For the last two days, CSs Peter Munya (Agriculture), John Munyes (Mining), James Macharia (Roads and Transport), Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution), Mutahi Kagwe (Health) camped in the extensive Western region inspecting Uhuru’s legacy projects.
Water and Sanitation CS Sicily Kariuki was also expected to be part of the powerful delegation but due to the death of her daughter on Sunday, she had to cancel the trip.
On Monday, the CSs toured Bungoma, Kakamega and Trans Nzoia counties where Macharia inspected the Kitale-Suam-Endebbes –Kwanza road which is under construction.
Kagwe was expected to visit Trans Nzoia Referral Hospital, while Kariuki was to launch the Kiptogot Kolongolo water project.
In Bungoma county, Macharia launched the Misikhu- Brigadier road and inspected the Kakamega-Navakholo-Musikoma road. Munya inspected Nzoia Sugar Company and later held talks with county leaders on the sugar sector reforms to be rolled out.
“I visited Nzoia Sugar Company and presided over a forum that formally engaged sugar cane farmers and stakeholders on the sugar sector reforms that the national government is rolling out in the Western region in partnership with county governments and other leaders,” Munya said.
In Kakamega county, Munya inspected the once-flourishing Mumias Sugar company, Macharia inspected Chepsonoi Road and Kakamega Airstrip, while Munyes inspected a mining site.
In Busia county, Macharia inspected the Nangina Airstrip and the ongoing construction of the Busia-Malaba road. The CSs later met county leaders at Alupe University where they discussed the revival of the cotton industry.
In Vihiga, they inspected the Vihiga Cluster Water project. Later on, Macharia visited the Gesembai-Shamakhokho-Musena road and the Ekwanda-Luanda-Esirulo-Magada road as Munyes toured a granite factory.
“The upgrade to bitumen standards of the Naitiri-Brigadier and Gisiambai-Shamakhokho roads will enhance their efficiency and safety, as well as boost the economic impact of local industries, connecting them to local and international markets,” Macharia said.
The visit by the CSs to the populous region came just three weeks after leaders from the region held talks with Uhuru at Harambee House, Nairobi.
The launch and inspection of the projects are seen as part of a wider scheme by the President to earn points in the wake of succession politics that will centre on the anticipated Building Bridges Initiative report, which is expected to herald political realignments ahead of 2022.
Prior to the Western tour, Munya had traversed parts of Mt Kenya launching the national livestock vaccination campaign (still on) and reforms in the coffee and tea sectors.
A week ago, Macharia was also in the Central region to inspect preliminary construction works on the Kenol-Sagana-Marua highway expansion project. The multibillion-shilling project comes after residents accused the Jubilee administration of neglecting them. The project is expected to be launched at any time by the President.
“The Kenol-Sagana-Marua highway expansion project is part of a larger undertaking to link the Northern Corridor (Mombasa-Malaba) to the Lapsset Corridor that links Lamu Port to South Sudan and Ethiopia through Isiolo/Northern Kenya,” Macharia said.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui has also been active moving from one corner of the country to the other. Last weekend, he launched the Violence Against Children Survey Report, the National Prevention and Response Plan on Violence Against Children in Kenya (2019-23), the Child Friendly Booklet on Protecting Children Against Violence and the Violence against Children campaign called 'Spot it, Stop it.'
The immediate former Water CS said his ministry is determined to get rid of violence against children.
“The Government of Kenya, in collaboration with its development partners, is committed to addressing the problem of violence against children and will continue to support and monitor the actions resulting from the survey findings,” he said.
“It is our collective responsibility to prevent violence and shift harmful norms to create safe, protective and nurturing environments where children and young people have the opportunity to live their lives to the fullest potential.”
Last week, Chelugui also launched the Kenya Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund for Social Protection and he has been busy overseeing payments to the elderly and vulnerable people in society.
Chelugui said the payments, which are part of Uhuru’s legacy projects, are "so far going on well”.
Another CS who has been very active is Kariko Tobiko, the Environment and Forest boss, who, for the last two weeks, has generated controversy after he said he will not negotiate repossession of illegally acquired land inside Ngong Forest.
And on Monday, he launched a 90-day crackdown on polluters of Michuki Memorial Park. He said the government will mercilessly descend on those discharging untreated and toxic waste into the river.
The rehabilitation is in readiness for its opening to the public as a recreational park and an educational centre.
Toursim CS Najib Balal was last week in Laikipia National Park where he inspected how the Kenya Wildlife Service is executing its mandate to curb encroachment on the park. In the same week, Balala launched a taskforce report to operationalise the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, which established the National Wildlife Compensation Insurance Scheme.
On Saturday, he visited Kora National Park in Tana River county in an effort to promote and market the parks to Kenyans.
Lands CS Faridah Karoney is in a rush to finish digitisation of land registries across the country. The Star established that at the 10th floor of the ministry's headquarters at Ardhi House, Nairobi, staff are busy entering data from the manual files to digital ones.
The drive is meant to end the culture of missing files that has been a nightmare to landowners as it made room for grabbers to change ownership.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, who chairs the sub-Cabinet committee overseeing the rollout of Uhuru’s Big Four projects, last Friday met NTSA chairperson Agnes Odhiambo and director general George Njao to discuss the full automation of services for an efficient road safety system. They also discussed how to strengthen the legal framework to weed out criminals in the transport sector.
On Thursday, Matiang’i, who chairs sub-Cabinet meetings every Tuesday, held a meeting with his ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru, Borabu MP Ben Momanyi and representatives of the National Boda Boda Safety Association to discuss the management of boda boda riders, particularly on order, safety and security. Matiang'i was recently praised by the President for "doing a good job".
Energy CS Charles Keter is pushing on with the Last Mile Connectivity project that will connect more homes to electrcity. Recently, he toured the Kedong section of the 300km Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line constructed by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company.
Keter said the transmission line will improve power stability in the Western region as it will supply reliable power from the Olkaria Geothermal power plants.
Edited by F'Orieny