By Onesmus Nzioka and Daniel Nzia
Makueni, Kenya: Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s influence will be put to a test in Makueni County where six candidates are battling for the Governor’s seat.
The VP’s Wiper Democratic Movement party, which is popular in lower Eastern, has fielded a candidate who will however face off with four others from parties affiliated to the CORD alliance.
Kalonzo is the CORD’s candidate for deputy president while Prime Minister Raila Odinga is the presidential candidate.
Water minister Charity Ngilu, who has been challenging the VP for a regional supremacy, will also be fronting for her Narc party’s candidate. While Ngilu’s party was included in the CORD agreement, herself is in Jubilee coalition.
Withdrawal
Those in the race for governor include President Kibaki’s former advisor on constitutional affairs Kivutha Kibwana (Muungano party), former Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki (Wiper), former senior military officer Maj-Gen (rtd) Jones Mutwii (Pick), former Makueni MP Peter Maundu (TIP), Dr P Kilonzo (DP) and Mutua Syumwenzwa (Narc).
A former UN consultant Tom Luusa who had declared interest in the seat on a CCU ticket dropped out of the race over the weekend and will be supporting Prof Kibwana.
Residents say the person who gets elected as the first governor will have his work already cut out, to redeem the huge populous county from its modest economic and social status.
With a population of 884,527 and a land mass of 7,263 square kilometres, Makueni emerges as the 18th largest of the 47 counties.
The county grapples with numerous challenges that will be the lynchpin for policy formulation by the pioneer governor and his government to place it on the development path.
Top on the list is creating employment opportunities for the majority youth who largely remain idle, increasing the poverty levels, dependence ratio and insecurity.
Unemployment
According to the county population coordinator Jane Wanjaria, 67 per cent of the population live below poverty line, 47 per cent is economically inactive while 63 per cent of the total urban population is looking for jobs.
The majority of the unemployed population, especially men, depends on casual jobs such as sand scooping, charcoal burning and general domestic work for survival.
Young women mostly look up to employment as nannies or marriage if no better jobs come their way, while several end up as twilight girls in towns along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
This anomaly has been created by the low level of investments and exploitation of the available resources, which largely remain idle.
Unknown to many, Makueni has resources that could propel it into unprecedented development if properly utilised. The county is home to the largest deposits of sand, which has been used to build the many skyscrapers in Nairobi and beyond yet the owners of this valuable commodity are paupers.
Misuse of resources
The same valuable commodity and ballast stones in Sultan Hamud are expected to fully stand in during construction of the Sh2 trillion Konza techno-city which lies at the border of Makueni and Machakos counties.
A lorry of sand reeks between Sh30,000 and Sh40,000 after Mlolongo township and beyond Nairobi yet the locals get only Sh1,000 for it. The youth who load the sand on to hundreds of lorries are paid between Sh200 and Sh500 per load.
Regrettably, the county has recorded high infection rate of HIV/Aids and insecurity due to the increased sand business ass lorry crews take advantage of the local women’s poverty and naivety to sexually exploit them.
Several people have also lost lives in bloody confrontation among residents opposed to the sand business, the loaders and the lorries crews.
Longest lava tube
Efforts by local administration to ‘stop’ the trade have been hampered by alleged involvement of powerful Government officials and cartels which are said to enjoy protection from security agents.
The county also has other natural resources such as construction stones, vermiculite deposits in Nzaui, forests and wildlife.
Chyulu Hills, which is a major tourist attraction, are home to the world’s longest lava tube, offering a huge potential for tourism development in the county.
All eyes will be transfixed on the governor and his government to tap these resources and initiate the requisite investments and other development projects to create job opportunities for the large idle population and increase productivity.
Another thorny issue that awaits the governor and his team is sufficient food production to feed the county that has remained elusive for years owing to the bleak climatic conditions.
Although the county, like the rest of the lower Eastern region that largely depends on agriculture, food has always been a challenge. Quite a number of the residents have had to depend on relief food from the Government and other donor agencies for decades.
The county is famous for its fruit production, especially citrus fruits, mangoes, bananas and water melons. These have the potential to turn the county into a major commercial fruit processing region if the proper structures are put in place to check wastage and promotion of agribusiness.
Value addition
Maundu, the former Agriculture assistant minister, says he would source for funds to construct a fruit processing plant in the county for value addition.
“Our farmers lose billions worth of mangoes and oranges which rot in their farms for lack market and a plant to process the raw fruits into juices will come in handy,” says Maundu.
The horticultural sector which rakes in millions for farmers within the county currently faces challenges ranging from low prices for farmers offered by unscrupulous buyers, who move in to make a kill during harvest seasons. Inadequate market leading to spoilage is another challenge facing the sector.
Farmers in the upper Mbooni hills were forced to abandon horticultural farming due to poor road network, a challenge the governor will have to tackle to revive the lucrative sector.
Politicians have always used this challenge as a stepping ground to power, promising to construct a fruit processing plant to promote the sector and secure better prices for farmers. The promises, however, only end with the end of political campaigns and surfaces during the succeeding election period.
The county healthcare services are under significant strain characterised by a shortage of adequate health workers, lack of reliable community-based health data and inadequate participation of the community in own health matters.
A sizeable part of the population is unable to access improved healthcare, and the resultant effect is use of crude herbal drugs hawked by people masquerading as herbal doctors in open-air markets.
According to the National Council for Population and Development, 40 per cent of women give birth out of hospital, a factor that has increased the prevalence of infant and maternal mortality in the county.
New treasure
The education sector will also attract the attention of the county government, and is destined to consume a substantial amount of the county’s resources to put up higher institutions of learning.
The county has not been lucky with the Government’s devolution of higher learning institutions. The only university campus available is the South Eastern University College campus launched by Education minister Mutula Kilonzo at Mtito Andei, whose construction is still ongoing.
Mutula, while launching university, encouraged fellow leaders to focus on establishing at least one centre of excellence secondary school, a tertiary college and a university, saying education is the key to meaningful development.