OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

VIHIGA COUNTY

SPEECH BY H. E. HON (REV). MOSES AKARANGA

EGH,
THE GOVERNOR VIHIGA COUNTY
DURING MADARAKA DAY CELEBRATIONS
AT MBALE MUNICIPAL GROUNDS ON JUNE 1ST 2016

Members of My Cabinet,
First Lady,
Chief Officers,
Acting Speaker of the County Assembly,
County Public Service Board members,
Members of the County Assembly (MCAs),
County Commissioner,
Other departmental heads,

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hamjambo!
I am greatly honoured to join other Kenyans in celebrating the 53 rd Madaraka Day. On this day
we recognize the sacrifices our founding fathers made to liberate the country from the cruel
hands of colonialists so that we would become a free nation able to determine our own destiny.
Great men and women from our county are remembered as being part of patriotic citizens who
sacrificed their lives for a free Kenya and contributed to shaping the destiny of our country. I
want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to them all for the sacrifice they made together with
other patriotic Kenyans in building the foundation that upon which Kenya stands today.
I want to also express my gratitude to you all for attending this important and significant
celebration. I take this opportunity to thank the planning committee for successfully organizing
the celebrations.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am glad to announce that the ongoing event is being broadcasted live on the new county Radio
Station that went on air last week. Vihiga County has made a milestone being the first County to
establish a County Radio station. You can now tune in on 105.0 FM to listen to Vihiga FM Sauti
Ya Vihiga. Soon the management of the Radio station will unveil educative, informative and
entertaining programmes.
Ladies and gentlemen Vihiga County is proud to host Miss Tourism beauty pageant national
finals from 15th to 18th of this month. We shall be the first rural county to host a big national
event. The event will bring colossal economic benefits to the County and I urge Vihiga residents
to take advantage of this event and do business. The Miss Tourism National finals will bring
close to 5,000 visitors to this county, with such a large number, business opportunities will be
many to us. From home stays, tour guiding, accommodation and hospitality, I believe the
economic fortunes of Vihiga people will be turned around by the event. I take this opportunity to
welcome everyone to this occasion hoping that it will be a platform for us to showcase our
cultural diversity to the rest of the world and make money.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

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While I appreciate what the national government has achieved as mentioned in the Presidents
speech today, I am proud to report that my government has achieved tremendous strides in
development.
You are aware that in my manifesto I promised that Education will be my flagship project. This
is because human resource is one of the key resources our county is proud of.
My government is putting more emphasis on ensuring that bright and needy children from poor
families access education. In this regard my administration has increased allocation to the
Bursary Fund from Sh5 million to Sh7 million per ward. We have also put measures in place
aimed at improving ECDE standards. We have constructed modern ECDE centres in each ward
and equipped them with educational facilities and improved the welfare of the ECDE teachers by
putting them on a salary top up programme. Although Education is not fully devolved I am
pleased to say that my government has been providing assistance to both Secondary and Primary
Schools. Earlier this year, my administration assisted St. Bakhitas Ebusiratsi Girls Secondary
school in Emuhaya Sub County, Tigoi and Stanley Godia High schools in Hamisi who had their
dormitories razed down by fire.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I had an opportunity to address Vihiga Secondary Schools Principals during their annual
conference in Nakuru on Monday. I expressed my concern over the drop in schools performances
in 2015 KCSE examination. The county mean grade dropped from 4.8 to 4.3. I reminded them of
the need for them to be compliant with the reforms in the education sector for improvement of
academic standards.
My government has invested in improving the status of Vocational Training institutions. Eight
new vocational training centres have been constructed by the department of education. This will
enable our youths further their knowledge in different fields thus contributing positively to the
national economy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Agriculture which is the countys economic back bone is currently running five major projects
aimed at commercializing the religiously subsistence sector and boost food production in the
county. The programmes include promotion of cultivating Tissue Culture Bananas, tree nursery,
greenhouse and tea farming. Farmers have benefitted from close to 200, 000 tissue culture
banana seedlings. 1,000 tea seedlings have also been supplied to farmers. My government has for
the third year running supplied farmers with subsidized fertilizer to improve food production. I
am happy to note that this year the distribution was more organized. All this programmes are
aimed at improving food production in the country and enabling farmers earn more from their
proceeds.
Ladies and Gentlemen

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Only a healthy population can participate in development, and that is why a big portion of our
budget is being used to improve our health facilities.
Vihiga County Referral Hospital is undergoing an upgrade worth 29 million shillings. On
completion our county will boast of a fully operational referral facility. Some of the state of art
medical machines installed in the hospital includes
-

Oxygen plant
Laundry machine

Dialysis machine

X-ray machine

Maternity theatre is almost complete.

The hospital has undergone a major facelift that has given the facility a new look. Apart from
this, the construction of an ultra modern medical centre is underway at the Hospital grounds. The
centre will house a medical training school, a doctors plaza, corporate clinic, state of art
Intensive care unit department, renal unit just to mention but a few.
My government procured drugs worth 29 million shillings from Kenya Medical Supplies Agency
(KEMSA) to mitigate drug shortage in our health facilities. The drugs were distributed to all the
medical facilities within the county. Enrolment at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC)
Vihiga Campus has risen to 400 students, with over 150 students out of this number coming from
this County.
Recently I presided over a ceremony at the hospital where top performing and long serving
medical staff were recognized and awarded. The exercise is part of the measures put in place by
the department to encourage and boost morale of medical staff for effective service delivery.
My Fellow Citizens
You are aware that the county has not been meeting its target in revenue collection due to lack of
legislation to enhance collection of taxes. I am happy to announce that the County Assembly has
passed the Finance Bill that will greatly help the county improve on revenue collection. I
therefore urge all traders to comply with the laid down rules and regulations. I want to remind
traders that evading paying tax is an offence and stern action will be taken against those found
guilty. Remember my government relies on revenue collected for smooth running of county
programmes. The County empowerment fund has been rolled out with close to 20,000
entrepreneurs benefitting from the program.
Ladies and Gentlemen,

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The water shortage challenge in the County is now going to be a thing of the past because my
government has partnered with the Belgian government to mitigate the issue.
Earlier this year, we signed a 1.7 billion shillings water project with the Government of Belgium
which will see every household in the county access clean and safe piped drinking water.
Moreover, my government has entered into an agreement with an American company Hydro
Source International. In this deal, Hydro source international will drill two boreholes per ward
and rehabilitate the existing water springs in the County.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I take this opportunity to thank the county Assembly for passing legislation that provides a
roadmap for employment of village administrators. Soon the county public service board will
advertise the positions and I encourage many who will meet the requirements to apply. On
housing, the department initiated a Social Housing Programme to provide at least 30 decent
houses for the poor and vulnerable in every ward.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce that Vihiga United and Vihiga Queens football
clubs sponsored by my government are flying the county flag higher in the leagues they are
participating in. United are among the top five clubs in the National Super League while Queens
have won all their two Premier league matches with ten goals.
On the national front, as a country we have witnessed loss of innocent lives in the past few
weeks because of the demonstrations that have been going on. I urge the government and the
opposition to seek dialogue in order to unravel the IEBC puzzle. We are nearing the next general
elections and I urge the political class to stop eliciting tensions that could trigger violence in the
electioneering period. Let us embrace dialogue as we forge a united, tribal free Kenya. I urge the
political class to redirect their energy towards defending devolution by agitating for more
allocation of funds to the counties for a speedy economic growth.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am glad that my effort to have the Maseno boundary dispute resolved has been taken with the
seriousness it deserves. This has been evident by the recent visit by the Parliamentary committee
on Justice and legal affairs. Members of the committee collected views from residents of Maseno
and neighbouring areas in order to find a lasting solution to the boundary row that has existed for
ages. We have a county technical team that is preparing a petition that seeks to push for a review
of boundaries, I urge Vihiga residents to avail themselves and append their signatures to the
petition so that the boundaries puzzle is solved once for all.
I will not end my speech without acknowledging the support the county Assembly has given to
my government. The Assembly is instrumental to the operations of the county and I am happy
that Members of the County Assembly have put aside their political differences and support my
administration for the common good of the electorate.

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As I conclude, I want to take this opportunity to welcome the new County Commissioner Mr.
Okello and the new County Assembly Clerk Hon Ambaka Kilinga.
I thank you, the people of Vihiga County for the support they have given me. Kindly feel free to
make your views known on any issue you feel strongly about. Every Wednesday feel free to
interact with me in my office and on social media. On twitter, I have interactive sessions every
Wednesday between 1-2pm, you can channel your questions using hashtag #Askakaranga and I
will be glad to attend to your questions. This forum has given me an opportunity to interact with
residents and respond to their issues satisfactorily and I encourage you to make use of this digital
platform. It is my hope that we will work together to cultivate a peaceful and conducive
environment for all of us to prosper.
THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND OUR BELOVED COUNTY

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