•Mvurya, who is finishing his second five-year term in office, managed to formulate the best policies that contributed to massive development and effective service delivery.
•He said the policies greatly transformed the education, health, agriculture, and infrastructure in the region and brought services close to citizens.
Image: SHABAN OMAR
Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya on Wednesday cited transformation of education as his greatest achievement.
Speaking when he delivered his ninth and last address to the county assembly, Mvurya hailed the strong cooperation between the executive and the assembly since the start of devolution.
Mvurya, who is finishing his second five-year term in office, managed to formulate the best initiatives that contributed to massive development and effective service delivery.
He said the policies greatly transformed the education, health, agriculture, and infrastructure in the region and brought services close to citizens.
Mvurya said transforming education in the region is his main legacy.
The Elimu Ni Sasa Initiative provided sponsorship and bursaries to the bright but needy students in high school, colleges, and universities.
Mvurya said he believes education solves the inequality challenges and brings about the desired change in society.
He said he expanded the number of Early Childhood Development and Education learning facilities for children to have a strong education foundation.
“We have constructed and developed 514 modern ECDE centres and employed 926 teachers, unlike before when we only had 23 teachers existing under the Kwale county council,” he said.
The governor said under his leadership, at least 13 vocational training centres were built.
There was also a steady rise in the quality and quantity of the institutions in terms of improvement of infrastructure, enrolment of students, and employment of instructors.
Mvurya said as he retires he is proud knowing that in a few years, the international market will be sourcing experts from Kwale.
On health, Mvurya said his administration invested and focused on increasing access to affordable and quality healthcare services for all Kwale citizens.
He said maternity wings have been constructed and well-furnished to strengthen safe maternal healthcare.
Mvurya said delivery by highly skilled attendants increased from 55 per cent (15,544) to 70 per cent (25, 101), and full immunisation of children under one year improved from 21,466 to 24,822 in 2020/2021.
The governor said the interventions by his government have seen the maternal mortality rate reduced from 650 over 100, 000 to 464.
Mvurya said he increased access to clean water for domestic use and provided a long-term solution to end the perennial water shortage in the region.
He said development in the water sector has impacted 62 per cent (103, 906 households) of the county population with access to water which now translates to additional 57, 144 households (32.99 per cent increment of households) from 2013.
“My administration developed 493kms pipelines supplying water to 17, 850 households and 326 boreholes delivering 16, 300 meter cubic of water per day serving 19, 500 households,” he said.
Mvurya said they constructed 106 dams and water pans with a reservoir capacity of 3,663, 740 meters cubic assisting approximately 19, 842 households.
The governor said food security was also his crucial agenda.
He said farmers were introduced to new farming methods, given free certified seeds, and offered ploughing services.
Mvurya said to enrich livestock farming, the county has so far distributed 535 beef bulls (Boran and Sahiwal) to farmers which have recorded over 1,000 improved offspring.
They provided over 3,860 goats with close to 7,000 improved offspring.
The county chief said his government strengthened the fishing sector by buying equipment, reviving fish landing sites and providing a ready market for the produce.
The governor said he engaged in empowering persons with disabilities, youth and women in various income-generating activities.
He said they invented start-up capital for the youth, women, and PWDs by introducing revolving funds that provide free interest loans to support their businesses.
Mvurya said Sh52 million has so far been disbursed with a beneficiary portfolio of 509 groups across the county.
He said more than 200 community-based groups known as Village Savings and Loan Associations for women have been trained in financial management and have injected Sh92 million into the rural women's economy.
He said to tackle issues of corruption, the county decentralised treasury services in each department to promote efficient payment and an automated revenue collection system to enhance accountability.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris