Samburu County is set to have its first Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in the next two months.
Speaking to KNA, Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda confirmed that the money set aside by the national government to construct the medical college in Maralal town is now at the KMTC accounts.
“I am so happy that after so much efforts and follow up that the funds to start KMTC Maralal campus are finally with KMTC. We had fruitful discussions with the CEO Professor Michael Kiptoo on laying the proper foundation for the campus,” she said.
She said that land has already been set aside and the ground breaking will be done within two months adding that the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) has committed to supplement the government’s efforts by allocating Sh20 million for the tuition block.
The legislator added that Samburu west NGCDF has already set aside Sh10 million to complete the construction of Sirata Technical Training Institute (TTI) that has stalled for several years.
“We have finally finalized the stalemate with Samburu west NGCDF board that will enable us utilize the Sh10 million that was allocated in the past financial year. I also managed to secure a further Sh20 million in the national government 2021/2022 budget that will go to fully completing and equipping it,” she said.
Timothy Lekolii a third-year university student lauded the move to construct a KMTC campus in Maralal saying that the cost of medical training will go down since students will not have to travel to other counties to seek education.
He also noted that Samburu County lags behind in terms of tertiary institutions forcing students to travel to other counties to seek education which is expensive for pastoralist families.
“Apart from Archers post TTI we don’t have another public tertiary institution in Samburu County and the construction of KMTC will be of great impact,” he said.
By Robert Githu
