Five newly appointed Kiambu County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) have been sworn in, with Governor Kimani Wamatangi impressing on them the need to practice transparency in service delivery in a bid to curb corruption in the county.
The swearing in ceremony of the five was presided over by Kiambu Chief Magistrate Emily Ominde at the County Government Headquarter grounds.
The county assembly approved the nominations of the five officers after a vetting exercise that saw five others rejected.
Those who were sworn in include Dr Bibianne Wanja Waiganjo, Education, Culture and Social Services, Eng Samuel Mugo Kimani, Roads Works and Utilities, David Kimani Kuria, Environment, Water, Natural Resources and Waste Management, Ali Osman Korar, Youth Sports and Communication and Nancy Muthoni Gichungwa for Trade Tourism and Wildlife.
Those rejected by the Members of County Assembly include Nancy Kirumba, Finance, ICT and Economic Planning, Margaret Ruinge, Administration and Public Services, Salome Wainaina, Housing, Physical Planning, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Elias Mbuthia, Health Services and Wilfred Mwenda Kiara, Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives Development.
The Governor challenged the new officers to discharge their responsibilities with commitment, diligence and accountability.
“The greatest enemy of development is corruption. I urge us to embrace a culture of integrity and transparency so that moving forward corruption will be unheard of in this county,” said Wamatangi.
Wamatangi pointed out that the team should be ready to commence work immediately as some projects need to be implemented as soon as next week.
“Together with the national government on Tuesday next week we will be rolling out a universal healthcare program, doing massive registration for NHIF targeting the less privileged, he said.
The program will be linked to an insurance scheme whose cost will be taken care of by the county government, he added.
The governor added that another project that was up for implementation was seeds and fertilizer distribution during the current rainy season to encourage food productivity in the county.
“We also plan to start distribution of seeds and farm inputs from next week in all our Sub counties as we target to be a food secure county,” said the county boss
Sh100 million school bursaries will also be disbursed before January according to the county governor thus increasing allocation from Sh3,000 to Sh10,000 per student.
The Governor lauded the outgoing CECMs for the few months they have worked together and noted that the county would continue to tap from their experience.
“We are looking and re-engineering to see if you can still help us in other positions as we believe your experience in working at the county government is valuable in making Kiambu great,” said Wamatangi.
