By Dennis Lumiti
Kakamega County staff uniforms and desks for the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) learners will be supplied by local polytechnics.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said the move would ensure that the county government obtained the items at a cheaper cost.
He also said these were some of the measures that his administration was putting in place to ensure the county polytechnics generated some extra money to be economically viable.
“I have directed ministries not to outsource for desks for ECDE learners and uniforms for our officers but give the tenders to selected polytechnics with capacity to supply them,” he said.
The Governor was speaking at Nzoia County Polytechnic in Likuyani Sub-County.
The institution is one of the polytechnics selected to make desks for the ECDE learners at a cost of Sh5 million.
“I am impressed by the work done by the institution and urge others who will undertake the project to emulate them,” he said.
He noted that the county had hired adequate ECDE teachers and that they were in the process of preparing their schemes of service.
Oparanya challenged polytechnics in the county to embrace technology for their growth.
“I am shocked that learners in some of our polytechnics are using vehicles manufactured in the 1960s for their practicals yet such machines are now outdated,” he added.
He pointed out that the county would soon establish Land Tribunals locally to handle lands disputes to minimise the backlog of court cases.
He explained that the tribunals would comprise both County and National Government officers.
He asked residents to make use of the tribunals once they will be constituted, adding that the law allowed for the setting up of the tribunals.
Oparanya, who also opened the Kongoni ECDE Centre, said people who would take their cases to the courts of law without going through the tribunals would be referred back to the bodies.
