The Swedish Government is exploring areas to partner with the Makueni County Government.
Swedish Ambassador to Kenya Caroline Vicini told a media briefing in Wote Town that they were working on modalities to partner with Makueni County but stressed that the success of such a venture would depend on transparency and accountability on how monies were utilised.
“The county government should be accountable on how money is spent. For us, transparency and accountability is very critical for any further progress,” Vicini said after she paid a courtesy call on Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr on Monday.
However, she noted that her government would likely partner with the Makueni County government on issues of climate change, environment and water which is a big challenge in the area.
“We would like to partner on climate change, environment, Makueni has a huge challenge in water and I see this is the challenge that has been taken seriously. For the future of this county, we will be involved and support this in some ways,” she posed.
On his part, Makueni Governor Mutula said that the Swedish Government has agreed to partner with his government on conditions that whatever they will be involved in will be free of corruption.
“The Ambassador has agreed to work with Makueni on serious conditions, which include to ensure that anything the government of Sweden is engaged with Kenya or Makueni, is free of corruption,” said Mutula.
“They are serious on matters of corruption and we have demonstrated by use of technology how we monitor our projects and hospitals. We ensure everything we do is recorded, there is transparency and accountability and we are able to answer any question at any time,” the Governor noted.
During her visit, the Ambassador was taken to the Youth and Innovation Centre at Green Park in Wote Town, also went to Kitungu Sand Dam and later visited Kivale Forest to see the conservation efforts by the Community Forest Associations (CFA) in Mbooni Sub County
Speaking to the press at Kitungu sand dam, the Executive Committee Member (ECM) for Water, Irrigation and Sanitation Eng. John Kieti said that the dam has a capacity of 350,000 cubic meters that they intend to supply to Makueni County Referral Hospital.
However, Eng. Kieti disclosed that they needed Sh34 million to construct a sump of 100 cubic meters, put up a solar system and a conventional water treatment plant whereby water will be pumped to an elevated tank before distribution to the beneficiaries.
“As you can see we have the Ambassador from Sweden with us here, we shall try to convince her if we can enter into a partnership on how they can assist us,” said Kieti.
He attributed the current huge flow of water at Kaiti River during this month to the increased construction of sand dams that has contributed to realization of water this period, hence showing resilience to climate change.
“The reason water is flowing this month is due to the sand dam constructed 1 kilometer upstream, here in Kaiti River. Water supplied in Makueni County is 70,000 cubic meters per hour and connected to an elevated tank next to Makueni Boys High School that serves Wote town and its environs,” said the ECM.
“This is the way to go, we are going to construct more sand dams with the help of development partners,” added Eng. Kieti.
By Patrick Nyakundi
