Machakos County Executive Committee Member who was hired while in a wheelchair shocked residents of Tala when she recounted her journey of hospitalization and recovery which was personally paid for by Governor Wavinya Ndeti.
Joyce Mwikali who was a Primary School teacher before applying for the position of CECM for Education in the County Government of Machakos shocked the crowd which had gathered for a Public Participation forum in Tala town when she revealed that during her hospitalization at The Mater hospital and later in India, some of her close friends applied for her job having concluded that she would not recover.
“I was so sick that some of my ‘friends’ who had written me off applied for my job perhaps hoping that I would not recover,” Ms Mwikali told the gathering.
Mwikali had attended the vetting by the County Assembly in a wheelchair due to an undisclosed illness but her condition deteriorated further before she could take up her role of County Executive Member causing the governor to intervene.
The soft-spoken teacher who hails from Tala said when the governor saw her deteriorating condition she asked her to seek medication at Mater hospital but due to financial constraints she could not afford the treatment.
Governor Ndeti gave her money to cater for the treatment and engaged a doctor at the facility to treat her.
For three months Ms Mwikali was admitted at the Mater hospital but her condition did not get better.
She was in a critical condition as she depended on a caretaker to bathe and clothe her.
The governor in a rare gesture of kindness and magnanimity airlifted her to India for further treatment where she finally made a complete recovery and returned to Machakos to take up her position which the governor had adamantly refused to give to another person.
“Some people went to the governor and asked to be given my position but the governor told them she had already given out the position and could not give it to someone else,” said Mwikali while thanking Governor Wavinya for her kindness.
The CECM is now back on her feet and is leading the government’s agenda in the education sector where she is overseeing the school feeding programme in all Early Childhood Development Centers across the county, allocation of bursaries to needy students and construction of more ECDE classrooms among other education programs.
By Stephen Muthini
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