MANDERA OCPD DIES IN A GRISLY ROAD ACCIDENT

BY ADOW JUBAT

Mandera East OCPD Ekai Maruk and his driver on Tuesday evening perished in grisly road carnage, after his official land cruiser vehicle was involved in a road accident about 8 kilometers from Garissa town.

His driver Abdi Noor succumbed to his injuries as he was being treated at
the Garissa referral hospital where together with other 9 casualties were rushed by ambulances from the government health facility.

Confirming the incident Mandera county police commander Job K. Boronjo said his OCPD died on arrival at the Kenyatta National hospital where he had been airlifted alongside his wife and their four year old son both who are said to be in stable condition at the same facility.

The 9 other passengers including 7 police officers sustained varied injuries and undergoing treatment at the Garissa referral hospital. However, they are reported to be in stable conditions by hospital health officials.

The officers attached to Mandera East division were returning to their work station from leave and others official engagements according to the county commissioner.

 
Boronjo said the OCPD was travelling with his wife and their four year old child to Mandera from Nairobi and who were injured in the accident were in stable condition.

The County police chief said the accident occurred after the driver’s attempts to negotiate with a sharp corner failed and the vehicle veered off the road and hit a road side gulley, which threw the passengers on impact.

“The preliminary reports we are getting from my colleague in Garissa indicate that the vehicle veered off the road before rolling into a road side ditch resulting to the death and injuries of our officers” He explained in phone interview with the Standard from Mandera.

Enock Matoke, a survivor an interview with the press from his hospital bed collaborated the county commander’s explanation of the accident noting that the vehicle wobbling on the road before it speed off the road and rolling severally into a ditch.

“We were traveling back to Mandera from Nairobi. Some of us were from leave while others were on escort.” said Matoke.

Garissa OCPD Benjamin Ongombe said that the vehicle tore into two on impact and threw the officers meters away from the scene of the accident.

Boronjo said the deceased OCPD who was posted to Mandera in July last year will be following the raging inter-clan skirmishes that claimed scores of people will be remembered for being on the front line in fight against crime especially terrorism leading to major offensive.

“We have lost irreplaceable gallant officer who was dedicated to his call of duty without fears and favor. He was loved by the people for his unbiased service to them. As his colleague we are shocking for losing him so soon” He mourned.

WE HAVE 35 MILLIONS FOR POOR STUDENTS, SAYS GOVERNOR NATHIF

BY ADOW JUBAT

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has launched an ambitious 35 million shilling scholarship program to support bright students handicapped from pursuing education to an employable level by poor family backgrounds.

Speaking at Garissa town during the officiating of the life leasing program, that targets in ensuring to address amicably the prevailing crunch in local man power needed to run the County operations in the long term, Governor Jama said students pursuing essential courses will be given priority so that they could achieve their professional dreams.

“As a County government we want to invest heavily in promoting human resources through the support of the brighter children from disadvantage families with scholarship in a bid to make them becoming useful agents to their community”, He said.

Among the first batch of the beneficiaries are 57 medicine students, 60 students doing engineering. Others are 33 students seeking essential careers such as teaching, nursing and life skill trainings.

The County chief noted that, despite the North-Eastern region harboring adequate talented youth who could join important courses such as teaching, medicine, engineering among others many has been shunning undertaking the said courses due to exorbitant fees charged considering that many parents from the region were poor.

He said, the scholarship drive is aimed at ensuring that by the end of 10 years, scarcity of essential man power will be a think of the past in the County noting that the recent boycott by non local teachers to serving in the region over “insecurity” issues has served as a wake-up call for the local people and leadership to think in reinvest in their youth.

Governor Jama who said the boycott of teachers to resume serving in the North-Eastern region has made children suffer revealed that governors from the region were planning to petition the national government to devolve education.

“We want the national government to consider our proposal of having education management devolved in our respective counties to solve crisis brought about by teachers boycott. Our proposal over the same is now with the Council of Governors”, He said explained.

He said council of governors will forward their request to have education devolved on a pilot phase to the governor‘s summit chaired by the President Uhuru Kenyatta for deliberation and execution.

“We want the devolution of education into the counties level particularly on our region urgently to undo the ongoing crisis put to us due to management of education from national level. We want to disassociate the running of our education from the incitements of people like KNUT Secretary general Wilson Sossion”, He noted.

Jama said challenges faced by education in northern region are similar and unique and it requires to be addressed differently by the concerned Counties who understand where the remedy to reverse the situation lies.

“We cannot allow our children to be held ransom by few individuals with ulterior motives of continued marginalization and discrimination against our people. As leaders we want to leadership responsibilities in providing urgent solution through such proposals,” He added.

“We are disadvantage in terms of education and it’s extremely unacceptable and unfair for someone to deny our children their right to education and that is why were demanding to take charge in running the sector immediately,” he said.

Teachers from Northeastern have kept away from their classrooms after more than 60 people including their colleagues were massacred in cold blood late last year; they have boycotted work citing insecurity and a threat to their lives.

The governor said the launching of scholarship program is second major undertaking by his administration after recent recruitment of 170 ECD teachers.

“This idea of sponsoring students especially who are doing medicine and engineering careers is to encourage our local people to pursue these profession because they few in the county,” said Jama.

On his part, County Executive for finance Abdihakim Dayib said the county administrations will double the scholarship program in the next financial year to 70 million shillings.