NAIROBI, Kenya
With less than two years to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015 deadline, county governments are seen to be the driving force for accelerating Kenya’s efforts towards the attainment of the MDGs, according to a new report published by the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. The Millennium Development Goals Status Report for Kenya 2011 says counties will bear the greatest responsibility in the provision to citizens of key services, most of which are essential to the attainment of the MDG targets.
The Kenya 2010 Constitution provides for the transfer of 15 per cent of budgetary resources to the 47 Counties that are the new levels of devolvement. “With increased allocation of resources to the counties, it is expected that the county governments will adequately address MDGs through the formulation and implementation of their development plans and also give priority to the off-targets MDGs in the respective counties,” reads a section of the report.
The report indicates that Kenya has already made considerable progress in the realisation of a number of MDGs including the achievement of universal primary education (Goal 2), promoting gender equality and empowering women (Goal 3), reducing child mortality (Goal 4), combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases (Goal 6) and ensuring environmental sustainability (Goal 7).
However, the country’s performance in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (Goal 1) remains dismal with more than 10 million people suffering from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition, while between one and two million people require emergency food throughout the year. The report cites the number of challenges hampering Kenya’s efforts towards eradicating extreme poverty and hunger including; poor crop production practices, adverse climate changes, high food and fuel prices, population pressure, increasing frequency of social conflicts, insecure land tenure systems, among others.
“The formation of county governments is expected to unlock the flow of resources to the rural areas and hence this is expected to significantly improve by 2015,” notes the report. Another area in which the country still registers poor performance, is MDG 5 on the improvement of maternal health – despite the Government’s efforts in reducing maternal mortality ratio.
Explaining this phenomenon, the Acting Director for Programmes and Projects at the Planning Ministry Mr. Gideon Mailu,, notes that whereas the number of lives lost in every 100,000 births previously stood at 414, the figure subsequently increased to 488 as revealed by the report but had currently shot to 495 based on the latest statistics not captured in the report. The director regretted the high mortality ratio considering the intervention measures the government had put in place such as construction of maternity facilities courtesy of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
“This is a challenge that should not be left to government alone as it requires the concerted efforts of all stakeholders. Health professionals need to give good medical care to expectant mothers and the community should also encourage pregnant women to deliver safely,” added Mailu.
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