Machakos is God’s land and we are God’s people.
On the 7th day when God rested after creating the earth, He must have taken His time to marvel at the wonders of His works. From the Yatta Plateau to the Koma Rock, from the green forests of Kathiani to the grassy plains of Kapiti.
He must have looked at this land that is cut by two rivers and said to Himself “between the Tana and the Athi, I will destine a people who are resilient, loving and welcoming. To them I shall give the gifts of hard work and courage.”
Like the parable of the talents in the Gospel of Matthew, We the people of Machakos have received gifts from our Master, gifts of various resources, but like the servant who received one talent, we, instead of working to multiply our gifts, we chose to bury them in the sand thinking that we were pleasing our Master.
So today, inspite of everything we know, despite all the resources we have we find ourselves full of the potential that God gifted us with but we still remain poor, troubled and unfulfilled.
We have gathered here today, 5000 strong, from every corner of this marvellous county, different communities , different religions but one people.Â
We have placed ourselves in the safe hands of custodians of the faith so that we may seek God’s Blessing for our intentions and for the people that we seek to serve.
We know that this is going to be a difficult year and a difficult election but we take courage that with God by our side, that along the journey, He will shine our path and protect us from all adversities. He will deliver us to the Promised Land.
Men and Women of Machakos,
Our county is one full of many contradictions, on the one side it is blessed with great wealth and resources whilst on the other it is plagued by extreme poverty, hunger and desperation.
When you cut through the length and breadth of our county, you will witness the thriving industries in Athi River that generate billions of shillings every year, you will see wonderful houses and expensive cars in our urban centers, but no more than 50Km’s away you will see our mothers and sisters walking for ten’s of KM’s on dusty roads with their old donkeys looking for water.
You will see thousands of poor farmers with failed maize crops littering the landscape destined for yet another year of hunger and handouts from the Government.
You will see young children who haven’t eaten a meal for days, who have never seen the inside of a classroom and whose parents can barely afford to put clothes on their back. Yes, this is our Machakos. The good and the bad.
What is even worse is that we as a people have come to accept this situation as being normal and we believe that nothing can be done about it. It is in this belief that the real enemy of our people resides. The enemy goes by many names but I will refer to it today as poverty of the mind.Â
This is the worst type of poverty because it paralyses us, it convinces us that we cannot help ourselves, it convinces us that we must elect criminals to lead us, it convinces us that stealing of public resources is acceptable if it benefits people who are close to us. It convinces us to lose faith in the Almighty and to seek comfort in our own beliefs and misconceptions.
This enemy thrives where there is poor leadership, it thrives on corruption and it thrives in those places that have turned their back on God.
Our mission today is to start the irreversible journey of defeating this enemy. Of Kicking this enemy out of Machakos for ever, it is the begging of the journey to deliver our people back to the Land of prosperity, the Land of plenty between two rivers that God has destined for us.
My brothers and sisters,
It is now 12 years since our 3rd President , H.E. Mwai Kibaki led the Nation in promulgating our new Constitution. A constitution that gave birth to Devolution.
Devolution was intended to bring government services closer to the people, it was intended to create a more equitable formula for sharing the national cake.
It was to be the cure for unequal development, every region was to receive and manage its own resources and chart its own development path.
The tragedy that we must confront today is that after ten (10) years of devolution and over 100 Billion Shilling later, Machakos County still isn’t working.
Water distribution isn’t working, healthcare services aren’t working, urban planning is non-existent, revenue collection is chronically inefficient, education standards are amongst the lowest in Kenya and our people literally aren’t working.
Our young women and men, who make up 35% of our 1.4 million population, feel neglected and left behind. Parts of the county have seen little or no development progress over the past decade, and in many others, development projects have been started and abandoned unfinished.
In our meet the people tours we have come across abandoned stadia, incomplete ED classes, medical ambulances on stones, empty boreholes, neglected dams, dilapidated markets and other
mismanaged development projects that are too many to mention. Is this really the way we want to live?
For how long will we complain about the poor conditions in our hospitals?
For How long will we accept that our mothers should continue to die while giving birth in public clinics that have no drugs or functioning emergency services? For How long will we accept to see our doctors, nurses and hospital staff treated like 3rd class citizens?
When will the song of we have no water ever end in our
Today as we are seated here, the Auditor General has stated that Machakos County Government has the 5th highest level of debt of all counties in Kenya. 2.8 BILLION shillings is owed by the County to suppliers and contractors. That is 2.8 billion shillings that has been taken out of our local economy.Â
These pending bills have destroyed countless of our local businessmen and women who were unfortunate enough to win tenders from the County Government.
That is why newly built public toilets in markets centres across the county remain locked and unusable because this is the only way for businessmen to hold the County Government to account.
The same report by the Auditor General indicates that our Neighboring County of Makueni County has pending bills of only 6.3 MILLION. Where did we go wrong?
People of Machakos,
I must confess to you the reason why I want us to unite and chase away this enemy called Poverty of the Mind. It is because I want us to build a new Machakos.
A Machakos that embraces its status as Kenya’s fastest growing metropolis. A Machakos that takes advantage of its diversity to create wealth and opportunity for its people.Â
A Machakos where rural farmers and urban businessmen thrive in equal measure, a Machakos where our children grow to achieve their full potential. A Machakos that is respected.
Matungulu to Mbuani in Kalama Sub-County, from Wamunyu in Mwala to Kivaa in Masinga we shall go town by town, village by village making sure that we will desilt dams , rehabilitate boreholes and provide water pipes to each community.
It is our dream that by the end of 2026, we should have been able to add at least 500 new KM’s of paved roads in the County.Â
We would have connected Matuu to Ekalala ,we would have created the link road between Kangundo and Mwala through Mbiuni, We would have connected Kola to Mbuani through to Kiatuni. We would have completed the road linking Kithimani, Ikombe, Katangi to Kya.
We would have ensured that the road linking Muumandu to Konza City is complete so that our young men and women can secure the job opportunities that await us at the Technopolis.
We will have ensured that rural access roads linking our villages to their market places are completed from Kyelini to Tala Market, From Syokimau, to Katani and through to Githunguri.
From Ndithini to the hills of Muthesya, we will utilize county resources to build long lasting road networks.
Under our administration, we will restore dignity to our farmers, by reintroducing fully functional agricultural extension services.Â
We will support provision of input subsidies and market access for our coffee farmers in Sengani, Kinyui, Mutituni, Mua Kaewa and others, we shall make sure that these farmers improve their earnings per Kg of cherry from the current 30 shs/kg to above 200 shs/kg.
We shall encourage and support investment in value addition of coffee so that the sector becomes a true source of wealth and employment for our people. We will provide seeds and support to farmers to plant avocados and macadamia nuts.
We will provide value addition facilities for pulses and fruits and bring back the prosperity that existed in the days of Kenya Orchards Limited.
We shall invest heavily in restoring our livestock sector, by modernizing our abattoirs, providing our farmers with access to improved breeds and veterinary support for all types of livestock.
Our Administration will revitalize our health sector by fixing the basics, from empowering our community health workers with the right equipment and stipends, to ensuring that each sub county has a fully functional, well equipped and properly staffed Level 4hospital. We shall build a new Level 6 facility in Mavoko Athi River Sub county to match the needs of a rapidly growing population.
We shall implement to the letter the World Bank financed Integrated Urban Development Plan for Mavoko Municipality ,The people of Syokimau, Miolongo , Athi River, Kenanie and Kyumbi will be guaranteed not only water and sewerage services, they will also live in an orderly well planned environment, with good roads and appropriate infrastructure to support their role as Machakos County’s industrial base.
The Administration of #WaitaNaSuluhu will pay special attention to the role of education in the County of Machakos.
We Will make our ECDS the best in class by targeting a teacher to pupil ratio of 1: 30, building more classes and introducing feeding programs. We will ensure that no child is left behind.
Working with elected Members of Parliament irrespective of their party affiliations we will compliment their efforts as leaders to improve the performance of our schools, offer unique county level scholarship and bursary schemes, increase our KCSE to University transition rate from the current 13% to above the national average of 19%.Â
We will invest heavily in vocational and technical training and work with local businesses to ensure a minimum of 5,000 apprenticeship opportunities every year.
We will provide a facilitative environment for small, medium and large enterprises and use the full power of our public and private sectors to create thousands of jobs by attracting commercial and industrial investment, transforming agriculture and its extension services, market linkages and related processing industries, and boosting tourism.
We have committed to creating real opportunities for our youth through the promotion of sports and the arts.
We will make the public service more efficient and productive by automating our revenue collection service and digitising our licensing services.Â
We will focus on economic enablers such as The Administration of #WaitaNaSuluhu will pay special attention to the role of education in the County of Machakos. We Will make our ECDS the best in class by targeting a teacher to pupil ratio of 1: 30, building more classes and introducing feeding programs. We will ensure that no child is left behind.
Working with elected Members of Parliament irrespective of their party affiliations we will compliment their efforts as leaders to improve the performance of our schools, offer unique county level scholarship and bursary schemes, increase our KCSE to University transition rate from the current 13% to above the national average of 19%.
We will invest heavily in vocational and technical training and work with local businesses to ensure a minimum of 5,000 apprenticeship opportunities every year.
We will provide a facilitative environment for small, medium and large enterprises and use the full power of our public and private sectors to create thousands of jobs by attracting commercial and industrial investment, transforming agriculture and its extension services, market linkages and related processing industries, and boosting tourism.
We have committed to creating real opportunities for our youth through the promotion of sports and the arts.
We will make the public service more efficient and productive by automating our revenue collection service and digitising our licensing services. We will focus on economic enablers such as roads, markets, drainage, sewer systems, urban planning. We will make Machakos greater and a true Metropolis County!
Over the coming months, we will unpack all of these plans in greater detail.
Most importantly, from the Governor’s Office throughout the entire staff of the county government, we shall instil a culture of service for you, the people. Every one of us is paid by you to serve you. Not ourselves. This is the movement that I intend to inspire.
Trust and delivery. Machakos demands – WaitaNaSuluhu delivers.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
When I started this journey, I was walking alone with my thoughts and aspirations for Machakos. Along the way I came across fellow journey men and women who shared in my dreams.
We united and joined forces to create this unstoppable movement that you see before you here today.Â
Florence Mwangangi and I are simply the face of a movement of people who are fed up of gambling their future. This mission to liberate our county from poverty is bigger than the two of us, it represents the hopes of every right thinking resident of this County.
That is why it is too late for us to turn back, to walk away or to surrender the future of this county on account of political
blackmail and intimidation. To those people who seem so hell bent
on derailing our quest to serve the people of Machakos, I say this to you. Let. the… people… decide.
Distinguished Members of the Party, Ladies and gentlemen
As I conclude, the path we have chosen to walk shall not be easy, they shall call us names. They shall try and deceive the people that we are not political enough to lead, but we must always remember.
That we cannot dream of this transformation unless we take this message to the people.
Whilst our opponents ridicule us for our big dreams, we must respond by going to every home, every village, every market center and every town in all corners of our County, from Kibauni to Kithyoko, from Joska to Ndalani, let the people hear the gospel of delivery and development.
We have exactly 122 days to inspire our movement and to deliver our message. Let us not waste a single second. Fear no one but God.
I wish to thank each and every one of you, especially our religious leaders for being here with us today. I wish you all journey mercies as you travel back to your homes.
May God bless you all and May God Bless Machakos County
