Women who have been deployed to work with youthful people on the National Hygiene program in Githunguri sub-county have been lauded for doing a splendid job.
The women, who are mostly single mothers with families to take care of are performing well in all areas they are deployed to work since they care so much for the job which has cushioned them from hunger since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
Githunguri Assistant County Commissioner Ms. Felista Ngumbao while talking to KNA from her office yesterday noted that their idea of combining the women with the youthful people was timely and had come in handy as the women were also role models to the workers whenever they intended to go astray as they have been encouraging them as their mothers when they were working. “The women have actually been very responsible and we have not experienced any absenteeism from them” she noted
She noted that parts of Githunguri sub-country consisted of slums which were mainly being targeted for the program which had attracted about 500 cohorts.
The ACC also commended the NHP saying it had helped restore normalcy in the area as most of the would be offenders were now busy during the day and that when they retired to their homes in the evening, they were exhausted and retired to bed as opposed to when they spend most of the day idling and engaging in criminal activities.
According to the administrator the cohorts have endevoured to clean the environment, thus giving it a facelift and that the villagers were extremely happy with the program which they say should not end at any one time.
Elsewhere from Githurai in Ruiru sub-county, Mr. Patrick Waithaka, an assistant chief in the area was also reading from the same script with the ACC on issues of stability and security.
Talking to KNA from Githurai railway station where the cohorts have been sprucing, he said the work had actually come at the right time as most of the people who were trouble shooters in the region were now busy and spend most of the day working.
“The area is calm and there are no criminal incidents where people have lost their lives and property in the hands of the criminals as before because they are exerting their energy to the work assigned to them most of the hours when they were idle” said the administrator.
He added that the cohorts in Githurai too comprised of women who had families to take care of and as such they were orderly as they worked.
At least 23,075 people have been engaged to work in the 2nd phase of the NHP aka Kazi Mtaani and have been deployed in the 12 sub-counties of Kiambu County. The programme is being sponsored by the government of Kenya
Phase one of the programme that was sponsored by the World Bank was piloted only in 8 counties and Kiambu was one of the 8 counties in which the NHP was piloted in May and June 2020.
Others are Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi and Mandera. Upon completion, the programme will enter into phase 2 which will be sponsored by the Government of Kenya.
The second phase is being rolled out in all the 47 counties and is mainly in the non-informal settlements which have poor infrastructure. They have been cleaning, unclogging drainages, cutting down grass in public institutions especially schools and government offices. Some have been deployed to work on legacy projects of the President on his 4 agendas across the County.
By Lydia Shiloya
