TVET enrolment up by 1,000 per cent in Eastern – official

Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions have attracted lots of youth in the Eastern Regional Commissioner Paul Rotich has said.

Rotich said the region has experienced a huge demand for TVET programmes by the youth and communities seeking training in technical subjects.

“We are seeing up to 1,000 per cent increase in terms of the number of students. I have for example two institutions which have grown their numbers from around 100 to 4,500 and 3,700 students respectively,” Rotich said.

The regional commissioner addressed the press during his tour of government projects at Konza Technopolis city in Machakos county on Thursday.

Rotich expressed his commitment to ensure government’s projects are successfully and timely delivered in the region as planned.

He warned actors involved in the projects against unnecessary delays and lack of accountability, stating that each penny invested in government projects must be accounted for.

“I promise our citizens that I’m serious with the work that we have been entrusted and they should expect that every penny that is invested in development projects, they will get value for their money,” Rotich said.

He led a team of state officials from various state departments including  Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s office on the tour.

The projects toured included the 4,118-unit affordable housing project in Athi River, Kinanie Leather Industrial Park EPZ, Konza City Special Economic Zone and refurbishment of Machakos County Commissioner’s offices.

“The purpose of bringing this team to Konza and other national government projects is basically to establish the status of implementation of various projects across the region. We have checked on projects from different sectors,” Rotich said.

He said the projects include educational institutions, agriculture, roads and ICT.

“So far, this is the third day of the field visits and where we have visited and had opportunities to engage with the implementers of the projects, we are certified with the level of performance,” he said.

Rotich said financial flows had been a challenge in implementation of some of the government projects in the region.

“That has been a major challenge as far as implementation and completion of the projects are concerned. The other issues that emerged in Agriculture sector are things to do with inputs for farmers,” Rotich said.

The administrator said delayed performance had been reported in the road sector due to financing reasons.

“Promises made by the government and development plans are enormous. Once we succeed in completiing the projects, we shall have satisfied the public’s expectations,” Rotich said.

“We also want to erase the emerging notion that the government is doing nothing. The government has done a lot and we intend to also engage the public so that they know what the government has done successfully and correct the image that has re-occurred from time to time,” he added.

The regional commissioner said the monitoring process was also intended to ensure that projects are delivered on time.

He urged contractors to exercise patience in cases of delayed payments.

“The government is determined to obey its part of bargain and we aren’t going to renege on what we have promised to do. It may be a little bit of delay, but at the end of the day, I want to give assurance that we are going to meet their demands,” Rotich said.