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ISSUE 082, May 1-15, 2013 Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth 1 May 1-15, 2013 ISSUE 082 A bimonthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service COUNTY GOVERNMENT CHALLENGES Confusion over devolved system Functions of county governments not clear to many Kenyans By HENRY OWINO Chapter Eleven, Fourth Schedule of the An aerial view of Nyeri town. Below: Chairman of the Transition Authority Kinuthia Kenya Constitution and recently pub- wa Mwangi and his team cut the ribbon during the official launch of the devolution Majority of Kenyans are still unfamiliar with lished handbook on devolution by Kinu- system guide-booklets. The country is still in the process of adjusting to the county the new system of devolved government that thia wa Mwangi, chairman Transition has come into existence with the current Con- Authority and his team. governments. Pictures: Joseph Mukubwa and Henry Owino stitution. According to Isaac Ruto, Governor This includes some of the recently elected Bomet County, Kenya has two levels of egation of duties bringing leadership closer home duction led by His Excellency Mwai Kibaki in leaders who will need more time to study and governorship; County Government with 47 to citizens. Naivasha County. Yet this is Nakuru County not understand the system. counties each led by County Governor and the “I must admit that there is a lot of confusion Naivasha as the leaders indicated.” In spite the fact that the Constitution is two other National/Central Government headed with this new introduced system of governor- According to Dr Alfred Mutua, Governor years old, there is confusion over whether the by the President and his cabinet secretaries. ship. Even leaders themselves do not understand Machakos County, expectations of Kenyans on country has a devolved system or a unitary state. Ruto, however, clarifies that it does not mean it,” says Ruto. He points out: “For instance, the county governments are very high. Devolved government is well explained in there are two separate centers of power but a del- induction programme reads that governors’ in- Continued on page 6 Read more Reject stories online at www.mdcafrica.org Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth COUNTY GOVERNMENT ISSUE 082, May 1-15, 2013 2 CHALLENGES Orphans in Trans Nzoia have their livelihood uplifted Water scarcity By ABISAI AMUGUNE An American volunteer’s fuelling conflict chance encounter with abject poverty among orphans in Trans Nzoia County a decade in Kwale ago is now paying dividends. The volunteer, Marjaana By ADAM JUMA Seilonen, has since returned and is now supporting 104 Vandalism of water pipes by neighbouring children with food and medi- communities in Kwale County has left com- cal care through her organisa- munities from Shangia Village in Mariakani tion. without water for over 20 years. Seilonen recalls when she The villagers have accused herders from first landed in the country and Kwale of vandalizing pipes that supplied wa- visited a small village at Kimi- ter to the area from the main Mzima Springs nini in Trans-Nzoia County water pipe. Speaking at a community meeting with and found most of the villag- Kiminini women in a clean- ers living in squalid condi- the Mariakani Water Officer at Shangia Pri- up exercise during the OWI tions. mary School, women from the area called on Top on the list were chil- Environmental Day. Below: L-R: the Government to replace the old pipes with dren, mostly orphans, roam- Gertrude Wanjala, OWI US President metallic ones to curb the vice. ing the streets instead of going Marjaana Seilonen and Kenyan According to Beatrice Tatu, neighbouring to school for the free primary counterpart Alice Wanyama. communities have vandalized the pipes to education. Pictures: Abisai Amugune ensure that their animals access water leaving What also disturbed the villagers with nothing. Seilonen was the fact that de- flew back to the United States where “This area is very dry and we rely on piped spite the villagers owning sizeable she mobilized for sponsorship to be water but we now have to buy a 20 litres jerri parcels of land, they were unable to channelled back to Kenya. can at KSh40. We are also Kenyans and would produce enough food to feed their Through a non-governmental or- like the Government to address our plight,” families. ganisation known as Ordinary Wom- said Tatu. “I was particularly touched by the en Incorporation (OWI), Seilonen, as Kilifi-Mariakani Water and Sewerage plight of women who had lost their its President, embarked on a mission Today, Ordinary Women Incor- Women Incorporation with its Company (KIMAWASCO) Mariakani region husbands either through natural cir- to empower Kenyan women to attain poration is catering for 104 children headquarters in California and its Manager Daniel Muindi noted that women cumstances or the dreaded the HIV better lives. for their food, school fees and medi- Kenyan arm have now acquired a were most affected by the poor water and and AIDs scourge,” she said. She partnered with a Kenyan cal care. 3.4 acre piece of land on the outskirts sanitation system. Seilonen heard stories of mal- community based organisation of Kiminini town on which they Muindi observed that the problem is gen- nourished children who were un- bearing a similar name to coordinate Cyber services intend to construct a full-fledged der based as mostly the burden of providing able to get food or medical care. activities between the two countries. Apart from conducting seminars health centre in view of the growing water to the family is the sole responsibility of Seilonen’s counterpart in Ke- on social care, Ordinary Women number of tropical diseases. women and girls. Education nya Alice Wanyama says that since Incorporation recently introduced Both Soilenen and Wanyama, a “In this area drawing water and transpor- One of the victims, Alex Wanja- the inception of Ordinary Women cyber services at Kiminini marked nutritionist, can afford a smile after tation is the responsibility of women who la, dropped out of primary school at Incorporation in Kenya, the local “where the residents can commu- seeing the behavioural change in have to walk long distances due to the scarcity Lukosi in 2007, following the mur- community has benefited socially nicate with the world using modern the orphans and widows. of the commodity and insufficient supply,” der of his father by armed robbers. and economically. technology”. From nourished children to the said Muindi. Since then, Wanjala, 20 with the They were speaking in Kiminini Under the clarion “Joining tolerance of widows in homes, the help of his mother and Seilonen, on the group’s Environmental Day Hands for Global Change”, the two non-profit making groups have im- Vandalism have worked hard together and he when they led members of the Ke- partners invited doctors form both proved the social set-up of the com- Women and girls are forced to walk over was a candidate in last year’s Kenya nya Ordinary Women Incorpora- countries who recently converged munity. 20 kilometres every day to fetch water in pans Certificate of Secondary Education tion and area residents in a day long in Trans Nzoia to offer a free medi- According to a guardian to an because piped water is only available from the (KSCE) at St. Josephs Boys’ Second- cleaning exercise at the township. cal treatment camp. orphan Gertrude Wanjala, Ordi- Kenya Army barracks in Mugoya. ary School in Kitale. Said Seilonen: “What started as “We were able to treat nearly nary Women Incorporation had “The vandals cost us a lot of money that is Wanjala remembers his late fa- a women’s affair has now grown to 1,000 patients and our doctors ex- initiated table-banking for her why we had to abandon the main pipe supply- ther as a police officer and is happy also include men since they are also changed information on tropical group’s members who currently ing water to this area from the Mzima Springs. that the American volunteer has regarded as members of a family. We diseases. Both sides benefitted in are involved in small-scale business The only pipe that has a steady supply of water promised to sponsor him to college. have included men in our Kenyan their own ways,” said Seilonen in an in Kiminini and the neighbouring is the one which supplies the Mariakani bar- After experiencing the hardship programme to sensitise their families interview. towns such as Kitale, Bungoma, Ki- racks and belongs to the Department of De- of the villages in Kiminini, Seilonen on childcare.” The US branch of Ordinary milili and Webuye. fence,” Muindi reiterated. He said the water company has no man- date to tamper with the pipes without the ap- proval of the Department of Defence. The scarcity is also to blame for the high drop-out rates because most school going Reject writer bags girls accompany their mothers to search for water. Speaking at the same meeting, Alex Mwanza Executive Director Coast Forum another award for Human Rights called for a private-public partnership to address the problem so that By DIANA Wanyonyi Programme for nurturing my ca- people have access to clean drinking water. and Mercy MUMO reer through grants to facilitate my Mwanza said the organisation will soon movement while covering features start a project that would enable reliable water The second Annual Journalism Excellence and to Internews- Kenya for the well supply to the area. Awards (AJEA) gala which was the held at tailored media training programs “The initiative will incorporate a gender the Kenyatta International Conference Centre which I have effectively participated approach while offering water and sanitation (KICC) in Nairobi last week saw a number of and got polished professionally.” solutions to reduce water-related problems print and broadcast journalists recognised for She also thanked AWC for giv- and ensure more girls are retained in school,” their various contributions in journalism.

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