by MAGDALINE SAYA
Sunday July 9, 2023
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki in Wajir county for a series of engagements with Counties Security and Intelligence Committees, leaders and residents. He also visited Mandera and Garissa counties. Image: HANDOUT
As another week comes to an end, it has been a bee hive of activities for most of the Cabinet Secretaries.
To summarise it all, this is what transpired across the various ministries this week.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki on Tuesday embarked on a tour of the northern counties for talks with local security and intelligence committees, leaders and residents on how to defeat terrorism.
The terrorists have been attacking places near the Kenyan border by using guns and explosives leaving dozens dead and many injured.
The gang behind the attacks cross from Somalia and launch them amid a campaign to address the issue.
To counter the attacks, Kindiki said the reopening of Kenya-Somalia border points will delay following a spate of terror attacks that have claimed more than 30 lives most of them being security officers in the past month.
“The government will delay the planned reopening of Kenya-Somalia border points until we conclusively deal with the recent spate of terror attacks and cross-border crime,” Kindiki said.
Kindiki affirmed that the government will continue to engage with the Federal Government of Somalia to develop and implement joint approaches and strategies cutting across social economic and insecurity issues.
Roads CS Kipchumba Murkomen was among the dignitaries who attended the memorial service and fundraising for victims of the Londiani accident alongside the DP Rigathi Gachagua.
Murkomen announced new measures to curb the rising cases of road crashes across the country after the deadly Londiani accident that claimed 52 lives and left several other victims hospitalised.
On Tuesday, the CS announced that school buses and Public Service Vehicles will be fitted with dashboard cameras and vehicle telematics.
The cameras will be fitted in front and at the back of the vehicle.
Murkomen revealed that telematics will have a GPS showing where a vehicle will be at any given time.
The black box recorder will be transmitting the speed of every vehicle at any given time.
“Telematics will have a GPS showing where a vehicle will be at any particular time. It will have a black box recorder that will be transmitting the speed of every vehicle at every time," Murkomen said.
He further said that no markets will be stationed at the road reserves but said his ministry will provide access to the markets which will be a few distance from road reserves.
ICT CS Eliud Owalo on Wednesday disclosed that the government is set to roll out the locally assembled cheap smartphones in August.
Owalo while reiterating the government's plans of leveraging technology to make it efficient and effective noted that this will scale up the uptake of the digital infrastructure installed by the government.
He said it is their preposition based on the feasibility studies that have been undertaken that the phones be rolled out in the market at a unit cost of Sh5627 (40 Dollars).
"We are going to roll out our first batch of locally assembled and affordable smartphones in the Kenyan Market to ensure that many Kenyans make use of the digital infrastructure installed by the government," Owalo said.
He further said the government has rolled out digital laboratories for schools across the country in a bid to scale up digital literacy and enhance access to digital skills among the youth and members of the public.
A total of 23,000 devices will be installed in institutions across the country.
In what seems to be a message of hope to Kenyans, Agriculture and Livestock CS Mithika Linturi assured Kenyans that the cost of unga will come down in the coming months.
The CS on Tuesday announced that unga prices will significantly drop to levels never seen in 10 years.
"Our commitment is once this harvest is done, the cost of unga will come down to levels Kenyans have never experienced in the past 10 years. The cost of unga will drastically reduce because we will have enough supply of maize," he said
The former Meru Senator said the country expects a bumper harvest after the government issued farmers with subsidised fertiliser.
The CS revealed that the average maize consumption is around 50 to 52 million bags per year, which will come from the harvest.