Western region in the limelight as Oparanya hosts governors

For the next five days, Kakamega County and the Western region will be thrust into the limelight as the 5th Devolution Conference gets underway at the Kakamega High School on Monday.

As the second largest rural devolved unity, Kakamega County will be showcasing its milestones in development in the last four years despite the financial difficulties that have dogged the implementation of the devolution process in the regions.

The excitement after Kakamega County was picked to host the annual conference has been palpable across the region.

Governor Oparanya spearheaded the preparations to ensure the success of the conference.

In an earlier interview, Governor Oparanya painted the daunting challenge his administration faced when he was elected to office.

"My election as the first governor of Kakamega was amid widespread levels of poverty, weak economy characterised by dilapidated infrastructure, a low industrial base and decreasing productivity across all the sectors. There was a general feeling of neglect and marginalisation of citizens by pre-devolution government," said Mr Oparanya.

But things began to improve after he clinched the governorship seat and focused on turning around the gloomy scenario.

"After being sworn in, the mood of optimism, hope and high expectations was palpable. As expected, the county residents had confidence that the pioneer county government would deliver them from the injustices of the previous system of centralised government. As the first governor, it was an unchartered field and the first priority was to build structures, systems and the requisite capacity to deliver quality services to citizens," said the Kakamega County boss.

PRESIDENCY

Governor Oparanya has pledged to ensure the projects he has initiated are completed in his final term.

Mr Oparanya is among governors who have declared they will be in the race for the presidency in 2022.

On Sunday, Mr Oparanya who was accompanied by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa at a church at Irenji Catholic Parish in Shinyalu Constituency was upbeat about the success of the conference.

"This Devolution Conference will shine the focus on Kakamega County as President Uhuru Kenyatta, senior government officials and delegates will be attending. We have done our best to give our town a facelift and improve on the facilities to accommodate the visitors," said Mr Oparanya.

On his part, Mr Wamalwa said: "History will be made for the first time when the Devolution Conference comes to Kakamega. We would like the 5th Devolution Conference to the best event ever held for a long time to come."

ACHIEVEMENTS

For Kakamega County, the key milestones in development include the ongoing construction of the County Teaching and Referral Hospital at a cost of Sh6 billion. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in July.

Other projects which have placed Kakamega County on the path of successful implementation of key projects are the renovation of Bukhungu Stadium to international standards.

Another key milestone for Kakamega County is the Imarisha Afya ya Mama na Mtoto programme initiated in November 2014 by the Kakamega County government to address the nutritional needs of mothers and their new-born babies.

So far, 40,000 women from poor families from the county have been registered to receive the support.

HEALTH

At the time, the county was reeling from a high burden of maternal and child mortality rate, sending alarm bells rings among healthcare givers.

Former County Executive for Health Services said at the time, maternal mortality rate was at 880 per 100,000 live births before the launch of the project.

The startling figures drove the county to come up with the project to reverse the trend.

After the interventions, the situation has slightly improved with maternal mortality rates going down to 430 per 100,000 live births, a figure that is still higher than the national average of 360 per 100,000 live births.

The County government enacted legislation entrenching the programme to ensure continued financial support for poor and vulnerable women and children from the populous region in November last year.

"When I was Planning Minister, the statistics on maternal and child mortality rates in Kakamega shocked me so much and I decided to tackle the problem if I was elected the governor," Mr Oparanya said at the launch of the Act.

The County chief said he had borrowed the idea to start the programme from Rwanda where a similar initiative was impacting positively on lives of mothers and their children.

OPARANYACARE

The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) is providing technical and logistical support for the programme popularly referred to as Oparanyacare.

At the launch of the Kakamega County Maternal Child Health and Family Planning Act, 2017, Mr Oparanya said he wanted to ensure poor mothers would continue benefitting after he had served his final term in 2022.

The launch was attended by Swedish Ambassador Anna Jardfelt, Unicef country representative Mr Werner Schultink and Vihiga Governor Wilbur Ottichilo.

The Act provides for establishment of a fund known as the Kakamega County Maternal Child Health and Family Planning Fund.

The county government has been allocating Sh100 million annually for the programme.

MOTHERS

The fund will support promotion of mothers and children from conception to the time the babies reach 18 months.

In addition, a family planning component and creation of awareness on HIV/Aids have been introduced into the programme.

According to the Act, the County Department of Health Services will be responsible for managing the fund.

For a pregnant mother to qualify for registration in the programme, she must be a resident of Kakamega County and have a child aged 0-18 months. She must also be vulnerable and living in extreme poverty.

Beneficiaries receive funds only after they have visited health facilities for services and money is paid to them in phases.

Twenty five health facilities have been identified in the county to register needy mothers.

A beneficiary receives Sh2,000 after the fourth ante-natal care visit to a health facility and another Sh2,000 for skilled delivery.

UNICEF

The next payment is made 4-6 weeks after delivery followed by another when the mother takes the bay for immunisation six months later.

The mother will receive another Sh2,000 when she takes the baby for immunisation at nine months while the final payment is made after the baby is immunised at 18 months.

Emerging challenges include shortage of nurses in the health facilities. The county government hired clerks to speed up registration of beneficiaries and compile data before payments are made.

To check cases of forgery, photographs of mothers recruited for the programme and their finger prints are captured into a data base used to process the payments.

Ambassador Jardfelt assured the county government of continued support from Sweden through Unicef to step up interventions in addressing the burden of maternal mortality in the region.

POVERTY

She said initiatives put in place by the county government to reverse the trend were encouraging and deserved support.

"Two years ago Kakamega was ranked as one of the counties with the highest maternal and child mortality but we are beginning to see a reversal of the trend which is quite encouraging," said Ambassador Jardfelt during the launch of the project.

Ms  Mukabane said the number of expectant mothers from Kakamega County accessing skilled delivery from health facilities has improved from 33 to 69 per cent in the last two years.

Governor Oparanya said his wish was to save the lives of mothers and children who were ravaged by poverty by giving them a chance to improve their livelihoods through the initiative.