While the country is facing a political storm to challenge the presidency in 2022 , three governors from Ukambani are busy changing the lives of the people.
The three governors in Ukambani have announced that they will rally the community in a different political direction which will be focused on developing the region and negotiating strongly for national resources.
The three county chiefs ,Alfred Mutua (Machakos), Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) said Kambas need fresh leadership.
The Ukambani governors on Sunday further held a lengthy meeting to discuss ways of harmonising their development projects in bid to eradicate poverty in the three counties.
Ms Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Dr Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Prof Kivutha Kibwana emerged from a five-hour meeting in a Nairobi hotel to announce that they had agreed to trade amongst themselves and collaborate to achieve faster development.
In the intra-trade agenda, the trio agreed to buy all garments, including county staff uniforms and clothing for their respective hospitals, from the newly-established Kitui County Textiles factory (Kicotec) while Makueni Fruit Factory will process all the fruits produced in the region.
Today I proudly open doors to our Kitui County Textile Centre (KICOTEC). A first by a County government. Employment, cost saving, growing local economy, wealth creation. Endless possibilities. KICOTEC The Pride of Kitui. #KituiCountyTextileCentre#KeepingThePromise@UKenyatta pic.twitter.com/1hS5C1K2vf
— Charity Ngilu (@mamangilu) October 27, 2018
Primary and secondary schools in Makueni and Machakos will also be encouraged to buy uniforms from the Kitui factory, in the plan seeking to retain the more than Sh7 billion that parents in region spend buying school uniforms from manufactures in Nairobi and other counties.
Kitui and Makueni will reciprocate by bringing their conferences to Machakos town which has better hotel facilities. Machakos sell locally manufactured materials like paving blocks, culverts and building stones.
Held a discussion with fellow governors @DrAlfredMutua and @mamangilu to discuss ways of harmonising our development blueprints and eradicate poverty in the Lower Eastern region.We have tasked a team to work on a framework for intra regional trade and Universal Health Coverage pic.twitter.com/snqTIkqVWU
— Kivutha Kibwana (@governorkibwana) January 13, 2019
According to Mr Mutua, the governors — whose counties have already rolled out universal health coverage — mulled allowing patients from the three counties right to receive treatment for free in any public hospital within the region.
“We have tasked our teams to work out modalities of actualising these noble plans geared towards fighting poverty, generating wealth for our people and providing cohesion in the region,” Mr Mutua said.
In six months, the Machakos governor said they will have formulated a broad collaboration policy on trade and all other devolved functions and provide the community with donor and trade linkages with national and international networks.
Machakos is among four counties where the national government is piloting the universal health coverage while Kitui and Makueni counties have successfully implemented free health insurance covers for their residents.
“We want to define the development agenda of this region. Our people have suffered for too long because of poor leadership,” said Ms Ngilu, adding they’ll provide leadership that changes people’s lives.
With this trade deal, the governors are confident that they will grow the county economies, develop the region faster and prove that theirs is a better brand of politics.
“We will continue working together for our people and nothing will separate us because we have a clear development agenda for our people,” Ms Ngilu said.
Has Ukambani politics matured?