"Let's share and celebrate this Christmas with the less fortunate in our society", these were the words of Kericho Deputy Governor, H.E.Susan Kikwai, OGW, as she presided over the lighting of this year's Governor's Christmas tree.

The DG who was accompanied by CECM in charge of Trade, Industrialization, Tourism, Cooperative Management and Wildlife, Hon.Charles Birech and other top county government officials, distributed foodstuff to some of the needy members of the society.

Kericho Governor, H.E Prof.Paul Kiprono Chepkwony on 17th December, 2020 played host to a delegation of County Executive members from Baringo County led by his counterpart, H.E.Stanley Kiptis.

The team was on a benchmarking expedition to learn some of the best practices especially on how devolution has been rolled out here in Kericho.

Kericho County on December 17th, officially launched its County Spatial Plan and Geographic Information System (GIS) laboratory.

This makes Kericho the first county in Kenya and in the history of devolution to enact a County Spatial Plan.

Speaking after presiding over the launch exercise, H.E. Governor, Prof.Paul Chepkwony, said the plan was a great milestone and a clear road map that will guide the long term spatial development of the county for a period of 10 years(2017-2027).

According to the CECM in charge Lands, Housing and Physical Planning, Hon.Barnabas Ngeno, all county budgets and appropriation frameworks will henceforth be aligned to the newly unveiled County Spatial Plan.

Deputy Governor, H.E.Susan Kikwai was among other top county government officials who attended the event.

Agricultural extension services play a critical role in boosting Agricultural productivity and supporting a sustained food security system.

It is for this reason that on December 9th, Kericho Governor, H.E Prof.Paul Chepkwony, flagged off nine motorcycles which will be used for Veterinary, Agricultural extension, Livestock production and Fisheries extension services.

The Governor announced that another 15 motorcycles, have already been procured and will soon be delivered to all the six Sub Counties.

According to the CECM in charge of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Hon. Philip Mason and Chief Officer, Victor Langat, the department was adopting approaches aimed at ensuring that farmers were provided with the information needed to improve their farming activities within a reasonable time.

A new commissioner to the Kericho County Public Service Board, was today sworn on December 9th in at the County Government headquarters.

Mrs. Ziporah Koech took oath of office in a brief ceremony presided over by Chief Magistrate, Samuel Mokua alongside County Attorney, Gideon Mutai and graced by H.E.Prof.Paul Chepkwony.

In his remarks, the Governor urged the new board member to uphold the constitution and the law while discharging her duties.

He cautioned her against engaging in any form of favouritism and corruption.

Present during the ceremony included, Deputy Governor, H.E.Susan Kikwai and other top government officials.

Mrs.Koech joins other board members who took office in July last year.

Kericho County today on December 3rd 2020, joined the rest of the world in marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

This special day focused on spreading awareness on various forms of disabilities and agitating for equal participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of development and decision making.

The theme of this year's celebrations was: _Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”._

The event was graced by H.E the Deputy Governor, Susan Kikwai, OGW, who urged residents to embrace persons with disabilities and stop stigmatizing them.

The DG also launched the UN 16 Days of activism against Gender Based Violence.

The activism creates awareness on the various forms of violence faced by women and young girls during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Transport and Safety Authority(NTSA) today held an inaugural meeting on 25th November 2020 with the County Transport and Safety Committee(CTSC) ahead of the launch of _Usalama Barabarani programme_ in January 2021.

According to the Director General, NTSA,George Njao, the EU-funded programme aims at strengthening the capacity of the CTSC with an overall view of flattening the curve of road carnage in the country.

Kericho is among six counties along the A104 corridor with high number of road fatalities.

Other beneficiary counties of this grant programme include Makueni, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Kakamega counties.

Speaking while flagging off new NTSA vehicles, Ag.CECM in charge of Public Works, Roads and Transport, Hon. Dr. Patrick Mutai said the County was committed to partnering with the national government agencies and other stakeholders in ensuring that cases of road fatalities in the county were significantly reduced.

H.E.Prof.Paul Chepkwony on October 12, officially opened three modern classrooms at Chesamisiet primary school in Bureti sub county.

The project was made possible through the funding from the local community under the stewardship of area MCA, Hon.Nancy Kimeto.

The Governor offered to assist the school have two more classrooms to accommodate the growing numbers of pupils in the locality.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

In the spirit of sowing the seed of peace and reconciliation, Governors and other leaders from the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), today converged in Nandi county to celebrate this year's International Day of Peace.

The day witnessed the signing of several peace agreements among the counties of Kericho, Nandi, Kakamega and Vihiga counties with all the stakeholders committing themselves to promote a peaceful coexistence among all the communities in the region.

Kericho Governor,H.E.Prof.Paul Chepkwony and Kisumu Deputy Governor,Dr.Mathews Owili,signed a peace pact which will see a cessation to the frequent tribal conflicts along the borders of Kisumu and Kericho.

The event witnessed by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman,Rev.Dr.Samuel Kobia, also saw Governors,H.E.Stephen Sang(Nandi),H.E.Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and H.E.Wilber Otichilo(Vihiga),sign peace agreements to end the border conflicts along their common borders.

*KEWASCO UNVEILS NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS*

The new board of directors of Kericho Water and Sanitation Company Limited (KEWASCO), on September 16th, officially unveiled by H.E the Governor,Prof.Paul Kiprono Chepkwony.

The team will be chaired by Roseline Ngeny and will serve for a term of six years.

The Governor challenged the board members to observe code of ethics and conduct and ensure they are always effective and efficient in their operations.

The biggest challenge ahead of this new team is the implementation of a strategy aimed at minimizing water losses caused by illegal connection and faulty old pipelines.

*KEWASCO TO EXPAND WATER ACCESS*

Kericho Water and Sanitation Company Limited (KEWASCO) is looking for partners to help in minimizing water loss due to illegal connection and faulty pipelines.

This was announced today during a stakeholders consultative meeting to assess the progress of KEWASCO since the merger of the defunct TILWASCO and the former Kericho (KEWASCO) Water and Sanitation Companies in 2018.

According to KEWASCO Managing Director,Eng.Kibii Siele, the company was lossing close to 5million litres of water daily to Non-Revenue water out of the 10million litres produced daily due to old and faulty infrastructure.

Eng.Siele said JICA has already expressed interest in partnering with KEWASCO in trying to fix such infrastructure.

Speaking while presiding over the same event, Kericho Deputy Governor,H.E.Susan Kikwai appealed to all stakeholders in the water sector to safeguard the water infrastructure and report any illegal connection to KEWASCO and the law enforcement officers.

The DG said water as a resource was a key component of catalysing socio- economic growth hence the need to invest heavily in its management.

*RORET PINEAPPLE PLANT TO ROAR THIS YEAR*

Farmers in Kericho County have been urged to venture into commercial pineapple farming in order to reap maximum benefits from Roret pineapple plant which is due for commissioning before the end of the year.

This was disclosed today during a meeting between H.E the Governor,Prof.Paul Chepkwony and Principal Secretary for Industrialisation,Dr.Francis Owino and other officials from Kenya Industrial Research And Development Institute(KIRDI) led by its Chief Executive Officer,Prof.David Tuigong.

The PS who later toured the plant in the company of County Commissioner,Kamau Karungo, County Chief Officer in charge of Trade and Industrialisation,Victor Langat and his Agriculture counterpart,Lilian Kerio,urged farmers to join co-operatives in order to benefit from economies of scale and lower their costs of acquiring inputs and easy access to market linkages.

On 24th April, Kericho County unveiled mass COVID-19 testing. at the KEMRI/Walter Reed laboratory in Kericho today.

We are proud of our collaboration with KEMRI which means that we can now conduct up to 2000 COVID19 tests per day. The equipment are top notch and the KEMRI lab in Kericho is one-of-its-own kind. We no longer need to send our samples to Kisumu or Nairobi for analysis.

Soon additional equipment will be activated to increase the daily testing capabilities to 6000 per day.

This service will extend to most of Western Kenya counties and will go a long way to boost the national mass testing exercise and support the fight against COVID-19

Our mass screening at all entry points is also on course. I am happy to report that so far, over 50,000 persons have been screened and none has been isolated for exhibiting the symptoms of the disease.

Stay safe everyone. Stay home. Wash your hands. Sanitize. Practice social distancing. Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth."

Kericho Governor H. E. Prof. Paul Chepkwony

On 22nd April, the County Government of Kericho provided humanitarian support including foodstuff, blankets and other essential basic commodities to more than 100 households in Kunyak, Kipkelion West Sub County who were affected by a landslide which occurred in the area on Monday night.

County Executive Committee Member for Education, Culture and Social Services and Ag. CECM for Public Service Management and Administration Hon. Edna Ruto who oversaw the distribution of the support packages on behalf of Kericho Governor H. E. Prof. Paul Chepkwony, said the Governor was determined to do everything possible to support all those who were affected by the tragedy that claimed one life in the area.

She advised those still living in areas that have been marked as being in danger of landslides to relocate to safer areas and encouraged the locals to plant more trees to reduce incidents of landslides and mudslides in the future.

CECM Ruto thanked the Hindu Community in Kericho for donating some of the items that were distributed to the victims and called on other partners to also come on board and support the humanitarian support program. Area MCA Hon. David Rono also participated in the exercise alongside other officials of both the National and County Administrations.