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Uhuru Mourns Veteran Journalist Hilary Ng’weno

by PSCU
written by PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta has mourned veteran journalist Hilary Boniface Ng’weno as a distinguished Kenyan whose contribution to the growth of the country’s media industry shall be remembered for generations to come.

In his message of comfort and encouragement to family, friends and relatives of the media personality, President Kenyatta said Ng’weno was a devoted patriot who despite having many opportunities to work abroad, used his journalistic skills to enlighten Kenyans on the country’s political, social and economic issues.

“Hilary Ng’weno is a Kenyan household name because of his immense journalistic achievements as an editor, publisher, broadcaster and documentary film maker,” the President said, adding that Mr Ng’weno had left behind a rich collection of journalist works.

“His documentary videos on Kenyan history have been a source of information on how our country has grown both politically, socially and economically over the decades. Indeed, his creative works have continued to inspire generations of Kenyans to work hard and achieve the best for our wonderful nation,” the President said.

The Head of State prayed to God to give the family of Mr Ng’weno fortitude and strength to bear the loss of their beloved kin.

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Latest News

Uhuru Mourns Ex-Nairobi County Speaker Alex Ole Magelo

by PSCU
written by PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta has sent a message of condolence to the family, friends and relatives of former Nairobi County Speaker Alex Ole Magelo who passed away last night at a Nairobi hospital.

In his message of comfort and encouragement, President Kenyatta described the late Ole Magelo as an outstanding leader who worked hard to make Kenya a better country for all.

The Head of State said the late Ole Magelo’s commitment to duty and service to fellow Kenyans saw him being appointed as a member of the Kenya Leather Development Council last year.

“I have known the late Ole Magelo for a long time and from my interactions with him, I came to appreciate his commitment and desire to make life better for others.

“He was a gentleman and a sports enthusiast who mentored very many young people through football to become great men and women in our country. Many remember Ole Magelo for the good work he did as Chairman of Kenyan football giants AFC Leopards,” President Kenyatta eulogised.

The President prayed to God to give the family of the departed leader strength and fortitude as they mourn their beloved kin.

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BusinessLatest News

Uhuru Issues Executive Order Establishing The Kenya Transport And Logistics Network

by PSCU
written by PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta has today issued an Executive Order establishing a framework for the management, coordination and integration of public port, railway and pipeline services under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN).

The network brings together Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC) under the coordination of the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).

KTLN will leverage on the efficiencies and synergies of the four State agencies so as to achieve Kenya’s strategic agenda of becoming a regional logistics hub.

Further, the new structure is expected to lead to the lowering of the cost of doing business in the country through the provision of port, rail and pipeline infrastructure in a cost effective and efficient manner, and within acceptable shared benchmark standards.

The new framework also allows for the centralization and coordination of operations without amending the existing laws or causing undue disruption to the legal structuring of the State entities. This helps to secure comfort with the concept, and utilize the experience to guide the development of a more permanent legally structured organization.

Consequently, the four State agencies have been transferred to the National Treasury in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Taskforce on Parastatal Reforms.

In the new arrangement, the ICDC will act as a holding company to the three agencies, and be responsible for the management of the State’s investments in Ports, Rail and Pipeline services.

Going forward, the State agencies are required to enter into a joint operations agreement within 30 days that will reorganize individual entity structures, resources, operations and services. The reorganization will help to establish a seamless and coordinated national transport and logistics network.

In order to secure his vision for the Sector, His Excellency the President has reorganized the Boards of Directors of the four State entities.

The ICDC Board will be responsible for securing the achievement of the commercial vision and objectives of KTLN, through the Board of Directors of each entity so as to operate as a single coherent unit. For this reason, the Board of ICDC is exempted from the requirements of Mwongozo on multiple directorships.

Further, the National Treasury has been tasked to strengthen its internal capacity by securing the necessary technical skills and competencies needed to effectively oversee investment portfolio management, and the setting up, monitoring and reporting of the financial performance of commercial State corporations.

In view of the above reforms, the proposed merger of the ICDC into the Kenya Development Bank has been postponed. However, ongoing transactions involving KPC, KRC and KPA will proceed uninterrupted.

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Politics

Uhuru Heaps Praises on Major General Badi For His 100-Days Achievements

by PSCU
written by PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta has commended the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) for its efforts in improving service delivery in Nairobi and its catchment.

The President expressed satisfaction with the progress made by NMS in implementing the directives he gave to the new agency at its launch on 18th March this year.

“I issued several directives to NMS to achieve within the 100 days, which period ended on Saturday, 28th, June this year.

“The directives were aimed at enhancing service provision in the areas of waste collection and disposal, water and sanitation, housing and urban development, transport and public works.

“I am satisfied that the directives for the first 100 days have been implemented in earnest,” the President said.

President Kenyatta spoke today at Harambee House in Nairobi when he received the 100-days performance report by the NMS.

At the ceremony also attended by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, the President challenged NMS to work towards making Nairobi a model city.

“I challenge NMS to demonstrate that Nairobi can be the model of our Post Covid-19 National Recovery Strategy,” President Kenyatta told NMS top leadership led by Director General Mohammed Badi.

Major General Badi assured the Head of State of his agency’s determination to transform Nairobi into a smart city by fully implementing its broad mandate.

DG Badi said NMS had created new jobs by employing the youth and street families in its projects through the government’s “Kazi Mtaani” initiative.

“On re-carpeting of CBD roads, NMS has completed 30 percent of all the roads and is using Kazi Mtaani initiative.

“To this end, NMS has engaged our youth in drainage clearing, waste management and rehabilitation of roads,” DG Badi said, adding that street families provide the bulk of the labour force for the ongoing construction of Grogan Road.

Shortly after receiving the NMS report, the President toured some of the agency’s projects in Nairobi’s informal settlements.

The President visited community water boreholes and water purification facilities at Kiboro Primary School (Mathare), Chief’s Camp (Mathare North) and at Kibra DCC’s office.

Communities neighbouring the boreholes receive treated water for their domestic use at no cost.

The Head of State also toured ongoing urban renewal and affordable housing projects in Ngara and Pangani neighbourhoods.

The housing projects are being implemented by the state department of housing, NMS and Nairobi City County.

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Uhuru Reveals What Will Determine Reopening of Economy on July 6

by PSCU
written by PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta has told Governors that the decision to re-open the country’s economy will be informed by the level of preparedness by the devolved units to respond to Covid-19 infections.

The President said the decision will largely be determined by the counties capacity to effectively respond to new cases of Covid-19 imported into their territories.

“County readiness to respond to new imported cases of infection will largely determine our national readiness to re-open the country as a whole.

“I say this because the nation is the sum total of all the 47 counties. If the counties have met the necessary thresholds, then the nation will be ready to re-open,” he said.

The President spoke today during a virtual meeting of the national and county governments coordinating summit that was also attended by Deputy President Dr William Ruto and representatives of religious and business sectors.

During the extra-ordinary summit, also addressed by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and his Education Counterpart Prof George Magoha, a progress report on the roll out of the minimum Covid-19 response measures required ahead of the re-opening of the economy was presented.

The progress report was presented by Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who is also the current Chairperson of the Council of Governors.

In his report, Governor Oparanya said Counties had attained a total of 6,898 isolation beds against the national target of 30,500 units.

He said, 12 counties had met the 300 per county isolation beds threshold while 34 devolved units were on course to meet the target within the month.

On human resources, Governor Oparanya reported that a total of 16,914 health personnel had been trained on Covid-19 management among them 59,449 community health volunteers.

Speaking on behalf of the 47 County Governments, the Kakamega Governor said 36 counties have a cumulative sum of 343 ICU beds while 28 counties have a total of 337 ventilators.

He said the Council of Governors (CoG) working with the Ministry of Health and partners had developed a guideline on home-based Covid-19 management which is being rolled out.

Governor Oparanya thanked the President for his frontline role in the fight against Covid-19 saying the Head of State’s intervention had helped speed up response preparedness by counties.

“Through your directive that allowed County Governments to procure non-pharmaceuticals from other agencies, Counties have enhanced their response measures,” Governor Oparanya said.

Mr Oparanya said CoG supports the gradual re-opening of the economy subject to the setting up of a strict regime of Covid-19 containment protocols for businesses, places of worship and inter-county travel.

“We propose that a multi-agency approach is applied on disease containment through improvement of testing capacity; contact tracing and enforcing the social distancing mechanisms.

“The reopening of the economy will have a County specific context. This will consider the County specific sector priorities and the health system ability to cope,” Governor Oparanya advised.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said Covid-19 infections in the country were on the rise and advised against re-opening of the economy before the response preparedness threshold agreed upon is fully met.

He said countries that had rushed to re-open their economies without having proper Covid-9 containment protocols in place were experiencing an upsurge in new infections.

The Health CS urged counties to speed up the recruitment of the 8000 health workers under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program so as to boost the country’s Covid-19 response capability.

Deputy President Dr William Ruto supported the President’s proposal for progressive reopening of economy and urged counties to speed up the implementation of Covid-19 containment measures.

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BusinessPolitics

National, County Governments Agree on Terms For Gradual Re-opening of Economy

by PSCU
written by PSCU

A meeting of the national and county governments convened today by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi agreed on a raft of Covid-19 response measures to be put in place ahead of the gradual re-opening of the country’s economy.

The measures which are aimed at safeguarding Kenyans against the adverse health and socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19 include the attainment of a national 30,500 isolation bed capacity within one month.

The third extra-ordinary session of the national and county governments co-ordination summit set the target of 300 isolation beds for each county so as to deal with the rising cases of infections, currently in 35 of the country’s 47 counties.

In addition to raising the isolation bed capacity, the meeting which was also attended by Deputy President Dr William Ruto tasked county governments to review their fiscal and strategic plans for the 2020 to 2021 financial year to include Covid-19 prevention and control measures.

To address the growing public pressure to re-open places of worship including churches and mosques, the summit agreed to involve the Council Governors in the ongoing consultations being undertaken by an inter-faith council.

So as to ensure the smooth reopening of schools and other institutions of learning, the summit agreed to involve the Council of Governors in the ongoing education sector stakeholder consultations.

The consultations led by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha will lead to the issuance of a new school calendar in line with the recent Presidential directive to re-open schools in September this year.

To keep track of today’s resolutions, the summit resolved to reconvene on Wednesday next week to among other matters, review: guidelines for the gradual re-opening of the economy; containment measures currently in place; and protocols for the progressive re-opening of places of worship.

In his remarks, President Kenyatta urged the two levels of government to work very closely with each other so as to find proper solutions to the Covid-19 economic and health crisis.

The President said the framers of the 2010 Constitution understood the desire for Kenyans to have proper and well-equipped health services closer to them and that’s why they decided to devolve healthcare.

However, the Head of State pointed out that the same drafters of the constitution were aware that as a country, in times of crisis, the two levels of government would need to sit down and come up with solutions for emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

“When this summit sits, its only business is Kenya. No party affiliations; no political distancing; and no ethnic divisionism. The summit becomes the soul of Kenya. That is why the pronouncements of this gathering, whenever we meet, become articles of our faith in ‘Project Kenya’,” President Kenyatta said.

He said the Covid-19 health crisis offers the best opportunity for the improvement of healthcare in the country.

“… this opportunity is also a blessing in disguise. We must embrace it and grow it. If we fight Coronavirus from the ground up; from the County up to the National levels, we cannot fail.  We will succeed,” the President said.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe applauded Governors for working closely with his ministry in the fight against Covid-19, saying cooperation is key in ensuring the country succeeds in dealing with the health crisis.

Mr Kagwe urged the County bosses to emulate Machakos County which he said has commissioned Jua Kali artisans to fabricate Covid-19 isolation beds.

“The Ministry of Health will continue to work very closely with County Governments so as to ensure we have win-win outcomes in every part of the country,” CS Mutahi said.

Treasury CS Ukur Yattani said his ministry was in the process of assessing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the economy.

In his technical briefing, acting Director General of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said community preparedness is crucial in defeating Covid-19.

“Homecare as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the way to go now so as to ease the strain of the rising infections on our health facilities.

“WHO has provided guidelines on how to go about it (homecare), that we are translating into Swahili so as to ensure Mwananchi understands what is required of them,” Dr Amoth said.

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