• Bloc chairman and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya says the MoU will enable the 14 counties to collaborate with universities on research and innovations.
• Oparanya says the outcome of the collaboration between counties and universities will inform their policymaking and overall planning.
Image: MAURICE ALAL
Lake region governors have signed an MoU with 11 universities on research and innovation.
Lake Region Economic Bloc chairman Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said the MoU will help the 14 counties collaborate with universities in creating local knowledge that can impact the lives of the residents.
Oparanya said they have already appointed a committee that will oversee the implementation of the programme in the counties. Maseno, Kibabii, Alupe, Jaramogi Oginga and Masinde Muliro are among the universities that signed the MoU.
The member counties are Kisumu, Migori, Nandi, Kakamega, Bomet, Siaya, Busia, Homa Bay, Kisii, Vihiga, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Kericho and Nyamira.
Oparanya said the outcome of the collaboration between counties and universities will inform their policymaking and overall planning on matters development.
“We have realised that there are many universities in the lake region that we have to make good use of in research and innovation,” he said.
Oparanya said after the bloc's seventh summit in Kisumu that governors will also involve relevant committees of Parliament.
Governors Anyang' Nyong’o (Kisumu), Wilbur Ottichilo (Vihiga), Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia), Wycliffe Wangamati (Bungoma), James Ongwae (Kisii) and Siaya Deputy Governor James Okumbe attended the meeting.
Bloc CEO Abala Wanga and a host of LREB advisory committee members were also present.
The governors also renewed their calls to be allowed to directly import vaccines and rapid testing kits amid the Covid-19 surge.
Oparanya said the pandemic has continued to ravage the region, which requires intensified mass testing. “The rapid tests in the Covid-19 hotspot will boost the fight against the virus,” he added.
The chairman said they are engaging the national government so that they can understand the protocols well before they do the importation.
They have scheduled a meeting next week with Health CS Mutahi Kagwe to discuss the direct importation and rapid testing kits.
“We have agreed as a region that we require more rapid testing kits because PCR testing takes longer hours. We want to be allowed to procure kits if the national government cannot meet the deficit,” he said.
Nyong’o said they will discuss the importation of vaccines and testing kits with the CS, noting that storage of vaccines is not a problem.
“Kenya has the capacity to store those vaccines and, as you know, it is only 45 minutes to Kisumu by air and Kisumu is within 40 minutes of every headquarters of counties within the bloc,” he said.
Nyong’o added that logistics and storage of vaccines in not a problem. “The problem is to establish a source that we can afford and that we have established,” he said.
The Kisumu governor said they will discuss the issues with Kagwe to see whether there are other procedural issues that need to be cleared.
“Logistics and money is not an issue,” Nyong’o said.
But the governors’ calls have attracted criticism from the doctors, who say allowing governors to procure Covid-19 vaccines and other supplies may lead to mismanagement and corruption.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union on Friday rejected a request to buy the jabs directly by governors from the lake region.
The governors said they should be allowed to import vaccines following tough new restrictions after a surge in infection.
The county chiefs said the Ministry of Health should provide a comprehensive plan on how the counties can realise rapid tests and vaccination of Covid-19 to flatten the curve of the pandemic.
They said what is being procured by the national government is not enough. On oxygen, the governors said the region is facing a shortage which has contributed to deaths in the hardest hit counties.
Oparanya cited Kakamega, Kisii and Kisumu as having overstretched oxygen supplies to patients. The three currently have oxygen capacity of 300 litres per minute. According to Ongwae, a patient requires oxygen provision of 50 litres per minute.
“We have lost some of our people because of lack of enough oxygen in our health facilities,” Oparanya said.
During the summit, the governors agreed to share data on a weekly basis and allow patients to be admitted in any hospital within the 14 counties.
Edited by Henry Makori