Office of the County Secretary

The Office of the County Secretary is the nerve-center of all operations of the County Executive. It is established vide the provisions of Section 44 of the County Governments Act 2012 with the office-holder being competitively sourced from amongst persons who are university graduates with at least ten years’ experience in administration and management.

The County Secretary is the Head of the County Public Service and also the secretary to the County Executive Committee. As Head of the public Service, the office holder is responsible for the coordination and smooth operation of all County departments. S/he reports to the Governor to ensure all departments are performing their duties.

The County Secretary is the person to be put to task in the event of any lapses in operations at the County level. S/he ensures all queries and concerns addressed to the various departments are promptly and satisfactorily responded to.

The County secretary ensures all departments generate quarterly and annual implementation reports which s/he in turn channels to the County Assembly. If reports from the County Executive to the County Assembly are not flowing, the County Secretary is directly held responsible.

As Head of Public Service, s/he communicates and follows up to ensure County Executive Committee resolutions are implemented. In essence, the County Secretary is answerable for all operations of the County Executive.

FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY SECRETARY

• Central Postings & Interdepartmental transfers
• Administration and Coordination of the Public Service
• Coordination of Government’s special projects/initiatives
• County Complaints Mechanism Management (County Ombudsman)
• Accountability for the Executive arm of Government
• Coordination of the cross-cutting donor projects/ programmes
• Management of the Cabinet Affairs Secretariat
• Dissemination of cabinet decisions to the Public Service
• Co-ordination of County Corporate bodies
• External communication & Intergovernmental relations

Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperative Development

Mandate

Ensure Food security and incomes; advance agro-based industries and agricultural exports; and enhance sustainable use of land and water resources as a basis for agricultural enterprises, as well as the overall growth and development of the Cooperative sector as a vehicle for entrepreneurship and wealth creation

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Machakos county is famous for it’S Sweet mangoes, sweet oranges, Avocados, Macadamia and other types of fruits. All these reach our supermarkets unprocessed.There is a huge opportunity in processing and value adding to these products.

More areas in agriculture, livestock and fish

Main Crops Produced
Approximately 60% of total land area in Machakos is arable. Agriculture is the main activity carried out in most of the sub-counties. The main cash crops are coffee, mangoes, citrus, french beans, pineapples, flowers, sorghum and vegetables. The food crops grown include maize, beans, pigeon peas, green grams, cowpeas and cassava which are cultivated in small scale. The County aims to increase the productivity of arable land through use of quality farm inputs, appropriate mechanization, irrigation and good agricultural practices.

COFFEE
We have large coffee farms and a large small-holder population. We would like to mill and brand our coffee and look for partners towards that.

HONEY
Ukambani honey is legendary. We are looking for partners to process and brand it. The potential for high returns is huge.

COTTON
The potential for cotton production is very huge. We are looking for partners to give and process the cotton.

Main Livestock Breeds and Facilities

Between 2013 and 2017 there was general increase in livestock populations with indigenous chicken registering the highest growth in numbers. This is attributed to free indigenous chicks program being implemented by Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. There are 14 livestock markets distributed across 6 sub-counties where large scale livestock trading takes place.

Ranching
The County has 13 ranches namely Kasisi, B&T Malinda, Carol Malinda, Machakos ranch, Kyelu, Lukenya, Game ranch, Maanzoni, Kakenyi, Kapiti, Mwambi, New Astra and Lisa. Three (3) are located in Machakos Sub-county while thirteen (13) in Mavoko Sub-county. The livestock in these ranches include cattle, sheep and goats.

FISH FARMING
Fish farming has of late been taken up as a major farming activity and the fish yields are great. Masinga dam offers a huge catchment site and the potential for the venture is enormous, we are looking for partners to develop a processing plant within the county.

County Administration and Decentralized Units

Coordination of Government functions.

• We are the link between the Government and citizens.
• Receiving feedback from Citizens on Government projects.
• Disseminating feedback to relevant Ministries for processing.
• Relaying responses from Ministries to the Citizens.
• Keeping Citizens Continuously informed on Government projects through public interactions.

Maintaining a clean, safe and sustainable Environment.

• Daily Collection of garbage and transporting to dumpsites.
• Holding regular clean up exercises within the County.
• Organizing Sensitization forums on waste handling and management.

Investment Opportunities

Construction Materials
There are plenty of sites in the entire County With the potential for sand harvesting and quarrying of ballast, building stones and other minerals.

Security
Machakos County is one of the safest areas to invest.
The County Government will complement the National Police Service by providing vehicles, housing and construct a forensic lab.

Bus parks
Machakos County is looking forward to having several modernized bus parks and a public transport system.

Markets and Stalls
Opportunity for Partnership and collaborations in construction of new modern markets and stalls to promote trade.

Solid Waste Management
Machakos Government seeks partnership in recycling of solid waste and sustainable utilization of abandoned quarry sites as Sanitary landfills.

Education, Skills Training and Social Welfare

Education provides individuals with technical or professional skills and increases their chances and capacity to obtain a higher income and standard of living. Literacy levels in the county stand at 92.4% of which male and female literacy levels is 95.4% and 89.4% respectively.

Pre-School Education

Pre-school Education is fundamental for child development and literacy improvement in the County. There are 1,468 ECDE centres with enrolment of 57,581 children and 2,115 ECDE teachers. The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) and Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 53% and 50.7% respectively with teacher pupil ratio of 1:27. This figure of pre-school enrolment is small relative to population of 155,230 children falling within the age group of 3 to 5 years (pre-school). There is therefore need for strategies to ensure 100% enrolment to pre-school.

Primary Education
The County has 862 public and 252 private primary schools with a total population of 332,089 pupils and 7,947 teachers. The GER and NER is 116.9% and 96.7% respectively with teacher
pupil ratio of 1:42. Since the introduction of free primary education, the enrolment rate for both girls and boys has increased and transition rate from primary school to secondary school improved. Infrastructure in schools has also improved through devolved funds e.g. Constituency Development Fund (CDF). However, the County still needs to invest more in the provision of education facilities to cater for the increasing school going population.

Non-formal Education
Education enrolment in non-formal institutions is 79, 290 and 37, in primary, secondary and vocational institutions respectively, giving a total enrolment of 406.

Secondary Education
There are 434 secondary schools both private and public with a population of 115,000 students and 3,890 teachers in the County. The GER and NER in secondary schools is 94.4% and 79.4% respectively with teacher student ratio of 1:30.

Tertiary Education
There are three fully fledged universities in the County i.e. Machakos University, Daystar University and Scott Christian University located in Mavoko and Machakos Constituencies. In addition, there are other university colleges and various learning institutions located in the major towns across the County. The County also has 2 public medical training colleges namely Manza and Machakos and 2 teacher training colleges which are Kilimambogo and Machakos.

Adult Education and continuing Education
There are 209 adult education registered centres offering basic education with a student population of 6,672 and 161 teachers. The enrolment of females in adult education is higher as compared to males; like in 2016, the females and males were 5,726 and 946 respectively.

Technical, Vocational Education and Training
There are 23 registered TVTs in the County offering certificate and diploma courses in technical
skills. Notable training institutions in the County include Agriculture Training Centre (ATC),
Kenya Meat Training Institute (KMTI), National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) and
National youth service school of Agriculture.

Special Schools
The county has two special schools. The Machakos school for the blind and Machakos school for
the deaf which caters for the sight and hearing impairment respectively.

Lands, Energy, Housing and Urban Development

Land Ownership Categories/Classification
Land is a very important factor of production in the economy. It is mostly used for agriculture, livestock keeping, ranching, industrialization, mining, forestry, government reserve, housing and urban development. The absence of a county spatial planning framework in Machakos has led to the proliferation of informal settlements, congestion, environmental degradation, unplanned urban centres, pressure on agricultural land and land use conflicts. Land use in Machakos County urban centres is generally mixed development. There are no clear-
cut zones for specific land uses in the county. This is because all the existing physical development plans except Machakos New Town Local Physical Development Plan are outdated hence not in force. There is no well-defined zoning policy in the county that guides land use development in all its urban centres sometimes leading to overlaps and mixing of incompatible land uses. There are 2 basic land use structures which are rural and urban. Rural: Agriculture (arable), Urban: residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, wildlife, rangeland.

Residential land use
In general, the residential land use in the County is mainly concentrated in urban centres. Low-
density residential land use is mainly observed as one moves away from the urban centres. The
current growth of the residential land use is largely informal since most developments do not
seek development permits. However, the rural setting that dominates Machakos County presents
a scenario where people live on a portion of land where they do their farming.

Commercial land use
The commercial activities are mainly concentrated along the main roads and highways passing
through the urban centres, rural centres and market centres forming a linear pattern. The
commercial activities here include retail outlets, stalls and street traders, hotels/restaurants.
Similarly, more pockets of commercial nodes are emerging within some of the residential areas
but in an informal trend.

Energy Access
The main source of energy for cooking and lighting is wood and electricity respectively. Other
sources of energy across the County are solar, wind, biogas, gas, charcoal and paraffin.
Masinga dam is one of the Seven Folks dams, which produce hydroelectric power for the
national electricity grid. There is increasing connectivity to the national grid across the County
because of the implementation of „last mile‟ power project by the national government.

Mandate

Energy & Electrification:

• To light up Machakos County through sustainable, reliable, affordable and modern energy technologies

Lands & Physical Planning:

• Facilitate improvement of the livelihood of citizens through efficient land administration, equitable access, secure tenure and sustainable management of land resource

Housing & urban Development:

• To Establish, Strengthen and Manage Urban institutions and promote Infrastructural development
• To promote supply of house ownership which is safe, healthy and affordable to people of all income levels ,races, ages and suitable for their various needs .

Finance and Economic Planning

Mandate 

Drawn from Article …. Of  the Constitution of Kenya 2010 operationalized by the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act 2012 and PFM regulations 2015.

We implement the PFM in the area of;

• Revenue Management
• Budget Management
• Accounting Services
• Audit Services
• Procurement Management
• Economic Planning
• Resource Mobilization

Investment Opportunities

Financial Infrastructure
Within Machakos County the financial sector is well developed.
We have presence of branches of major international banks namely ( Standard Chartered Barclays) and indigenous banks namely ( National Bank, Equity, KCB. Co-op Bank and Family Bank). Major insurance companies are also present namely ( Britam and APA )

Tax Incentives/Tax Holiday
The Income Tax laws have given very attractive incentives to the investors.

Investors outside Nairobi enjoy a 150% Investment Deduction Allowance in the 1st year of operation. This is a major boost to the investor as the investment is paid in full within the 1st year of operation.Machakos therefore becomes very attractive because of its proximity to Nairobi.

Private Public Partnerships (PPPs)
In Machakos County we shall ensure transparent dealings with our Private Partners and enter into firm and enforceable agreements.

Accounting/ Auditing Standards
We are committed to strict adherence to Internationally Accepted Standards of accounting of public funds.

We shall ensure up to date preparation of annual accounts and have them audited in timely manner.

We shall strictly observe the requirements of Public Finance Management Act and The Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005

Licensing
In conjunction with the Ministry of Trade, we shall introduce efficient systems of issuance of trade licenses across the County without necessarily
visiting the headquarters in Machakos Town.

We shall facilitate processing of immigration documents and approval of work permits within the county.

Health and Emergency Services

Mandate

• Constitution of Kenya, Article 43 (1) (a).“Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care. H.E. The Governor’s Manifesto. Providing accessible, affordable and efficient health care to all

Key Statistics
Machakos Population – 1.2 million
Health facilities- 320
Health care workers- 1678
Referral for Kitui , Makueni and Kajiado counties

Investment Opportunities

Modern Tourist Medical Centre – With state of the art medical equipments and facilities.

• Renal/Dialysis
• Cancer unit
• CT scan
• Forensic lab

Pharmaceutical Industries.

• Invest Ksh 274 Million and expect 50% Profit
• Non Pharmaceutical Industries
• Invest in surgical gloves and expect 45 % profit

Health Information

• Automation of 320 Health facilities to boost revenue collection and easy retrieval of medical records and data for medical research

Health workforce 

• The county has a workforce of 1678 and is ideal for setting up a medical university.
• Machakos level 5 is an ideal centre for medical research

Health Access
The construction of health facilities programme through Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) and Constituency Development Fund (CDF) led to increase in health facilities in all sub-counties. The County Government has greatly improved the health facilities with one Level 5 hospital located at Machakos town and four Level 4 hospitals in Kathiani, Mwala, Matuu and Kangundo. Other health facilities by ownership include 193 under the County Government, 32 owned by FBOs, 9 owned by NGOs and 128 private-owned. The total health facilities in the County are 367. Most of the health facilities are found in the urban areas. Patients/clients in rural areas travel longer distances to access health services. In response, the County Government has instituted measures to ensure access to well-equipped health centres within the wards.

 Morbidity
The most prevalent diseases are of respiratory system which account for 46.1% of the total cases reported. This is followed by diseases of the skin which account for 11.2%.

Nutritional Status
The predominant forms of malnutrition in the County are stunted children under five years, which accounts for 27% followed by underweight children, wasted children and overweight children

Immunization Coverage

All the departments of health institutions in the County offer immunization services. The immunization coverage stands at 70.4% in 2017 which is below WHO standards of 85%. It is also considerably lower than the baseline which was 77.7% due to the prolonged medical staff labour disputes

Public Service, Quality Management and ICT

Vision

A center of excellence in public service management and information communication technology

Mission

To provide effective leadership in the human resource and knowledge management through recruitment, deployment and retention of competent human resource and adoption and use of cutting-edge Information Technologies for efficient public service delivery and promotion of good governance.

The madate of the department

• Provide leadership in public service management and enhance efficiency and productivity within the County public service
• Promote accountability for results
• Develop County ICT infrastructure and enhance use of information and communication services

Information, Communication and Technology
The County has estimated mobile network coverage of about 85% with good internet connectivity supported by both the mobile network and fibre optic cable. According to 2009 Kenya population and Housing census, Machakos County was ranked position 11 out of 47 with 67.7% of households owning mobile phones. However, Mwala, Kibauni, Yathui and Kalama are some of the areas with poor network coverage.

Roads Transport and Public Works

Vision

A national leader in provision of accessibility through a well-managed and sustainable transport infrastructure system.

Mission

To develop, operate and continually improve on quality, safe, adequate and efficient county transport infrastructure through optimal utilization of resources.

Mandate

• Develop and maintain sustainable transport and infrastructure facilities to enable efficient movement of goods and people.
• Develop and enforce regulations & standards to ensure safe, secure and efficient transport
• Development and management of County Buildings
• Provide consultancy services and technical support on building works to other County Departments
• Coordinate and advise on the selection and acquisition of vehicles and equipment
• Maintain maintenance and repair of all county plant, vehicles, equipment and machinery
• Development and management of public transport systems, terminals and designation of commuter vehicle station
• Develop and implement road safety action plans
• Undertake research and implement the findings for an efficient transport and infrastructure system.
• Mobilize resources and build capacity for technical staff.

Investment Opportunities

Machakos Accessibility
Machakos is only 64Km from Nairobi and 50 km from JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) by road transport.

In our 2013/14 budget we have provided funds to construct airstrips/airports in strategic locations including a 4 km long airport at Konza technocity.

Roads sector
The budget for 2013/14 has provided 1.6 billion for roads construction & maintenance to ensure accessibility to all to county facilities such as hospitals, schools, food basket areas, quarries and mines.

Housing Sector Investment Areas
We are providing land at attractive lease terms to develop housing to cater for Nairobi and Konza techno city which is 15 km from Machakos(the distance from Nairobi C.B.D. to JKIA is 15km). Machakos will become the dormitory for Nairobi and konza techno city.

Most of the building construction materials for Nairobi are supplied from Machakos such as – sand, building stones and cement (Simba cement, East African Portland cement,Savannah cement are all located within Machakos county). Machakos has excellent weather and we shall streamline building plan approvals to ensure that all development plans submitted are approved within 21 days. The ongoing upgrading of the water reticulation system, water for construction and domestic use will be available to all areas 24/7, 52 weeks a year

Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports

Machakos County offers an authentic cultural experience with its natural attraction sites and recreation centers. The county boasts on a diverse selection of cultural tourist attractions such as the Fourteen Falls, Ol-Donyo Sabuk National Park, The Magnetic Hill Anti-Gravity Site, The Masinga Dam, Iveti Forest Reserve, the Komarock shrine, Machakos People’s park, the 5,000-seater open amphitheater and the Lukenya Hills and many more. The County’s hilly terrain and breathtaking scenery is perfect for camping, hiking safaris, ecotourism among other tourist activities. The Miss World beauty pageant has also been hosted in the County with Ms. Machakos County scooping the Miss World Kenya 2013 title and proceeding to finish 7th position worldwide. Machawood Board is a one of a kind entertainment platform in Kenya, which facilitates the delivery of world class films and events in media, music and the arts. The up-coming studio city is expected to enable the Machawood platform to deliver TV, radio and films for hall screening.

The county has identified tourism and entertainment as a priority sector where investors can partner with us on the following strategic focal areas:

• Development of resort Cities
• Construction of high end and budget hotel
• Investment in Conference Facilities
• Set up of Amusement Parks, Clubs, Casinos, theatres and Specialty restaurants and
• Film Development

Museums, Heritage and Cultural sites
The County has one museum in Kalama. It also has seven heritage and culture sites namely Wamunyu and Muliluni handcrafts in Mwala Sub-county; Second World War platers, Masaku and Muindi Mbingu grave sites in Machakos; Paul Ngei grave site in Kangundo and African heritage house in Mavoko Sub-county.

Talent Academies

The County has three public talent academies/centres, namely; Matuu Girls‟ Memorial
Secondary School specialized with girls‟ football, Kwanthanze Secondary school in Volleyball
and Machahood for film Industry. Privately owned talent academies include Syokimau talent
academy, Machakos athletes club and Masaku football academy.

Sports Facilities

Kenyatta Stadium is one of the major sports facilities in Machakos County and plays an important role in hosting local, national, regional and international sports events and celebrations. Others include Machakos golf club, Masinga airstrip TT (car racing), Masinga dam water sport, Portland sports club, Lukenya motorcross, Stone Athi for shooting etc. The county is embarking on establishing nine more stadia one in every sub-county