Kimani Wairiri in Texas

Nyandarua County is endowed with adequate water resources. It can no longer be acceptable that whereas our own Malewa Dam services 30% of Nairobi’s water needs, hardly any household in Nyandarua County has reliable connection to piped water. The term of 2012 – 2017 will be for developing the plan that will see every household have a supply of clean water. During my young age, Nyandarua was the pride of the country with its school and students topping the nation; today this is not the case. Parents in Nyandarua can be assured that the education level will be back and Nyandarua will be on top again and after 5 years 2017 Nyandarua residents will have transformed the county to beauty, pristine as we work together.

Bio
Education
I was raised in Nyandarua County Tumaini in Ol’kalou division. I am married to Janiffer Wambui and we are blessed with two children; Njambi and Wairiri. We currently live in El Paso Texas.
I went to high school in Rongai.
I then proceeded to the University of Nairobi where I completed a Bachelors of Science (Bsc) in Nursing degree in 1999. Then completed a Masters of Business Administration at the University of Phoenix and am nearing completion of a Master’s of Science in Health Systems Management at the Kenya Methodist University (KeMU).

Experience and Service
I have worked in the Aga Khan University hospital as a clinical instructor, at the Kenya Methodist University as a lecturer, and currently a charge RN in Del Sol Medical Center as well as a faculty member at the Anamarc College in El Paso, Texas.
I am proud to have served the nurses of Kenya as the secretary and treasurer of the Nairobi and Aga Khan Branches of the National Nurses Association. My passion for easing human suffering has seen me leading numerous initiatives to control the spread of HIV and to improve the care and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. It was in this regard that I worked with a USAID program to provide education to nurses and other health workers countrywide on HIV care and counseling. While working at KeMU, I led in a UNESCO initiative to mainstream HIV education in science and engineering curricular. Perhaps even more consequential, I advocated for and led in developing a curriculum for a common undergraduate course on HIV so that all students graduating from KeMU now understand their role in the fight against the pandemic that has so ravaged our nation. It is this same passion that I now hope to channel towards improving the lives of my people in Nyandarua and Kenyans in general while serving as the Senator for Nyandarua County.

I am convinced that facilitated by prudent leadership and supported with an enabling infrastructure and policy framework, the industry of the people of Nyandarua and the rich natural heritage of our county shall translate to better living standards for all our people. There are many things we shall do together to achieve this; I will highlight just a few:

Agriculture
The economy of Nyandarua is heavily reliant on agriculture. If Nyandarua County agricultural potential was fully harnessed, Nyandarua can produce enough milk and Irish potatoes to feed the entire nation, while at the same time generate good profits to our hard-working farmers and well-paying jobs for our youths. Vegetables, livestock, pyrethrum, plums, pears, and maize are other agricultural products whose potential for production and profitability we can improve. The challenges have always being lack of a good policy that will recognize the Nyandarua County role and have a clear plan for the future.  

Education
Nyandarua is famous for a variety of reasons, most importantly the academic prowess of her children. We acknowledge the important role played by private entities and religious organizations in availing education opportunities for our county. However, the performance of our public primary and secondary schools, many of which were the shining stars in the whole nation, has sadly been deteriorating over the years at an alarming rate. Today, many of the families who send their children to public schools do so mainly because they have no other choice. We can no longer afford to stand in the sidelines and watch this sorry state of affairs continue. The plan I will propose for Nyandarua will reclaim our lost glory in primary education, improve quality and expand access to secondary schools, and ensure that we have sufficient tertiary institutions to meet the education needs of our children.

Health and sanitation
From my background and the career I have pursued, I am passionate about health and wellness. The burden of disease in our county is very heavy, especially compared to the resources available to mitigate it. Malaria, Respiratory Tract Infections, and Skin diseases are the most prevalent. HIV/AIDS poses a serious challenge. To date, the prevalence of HIV in Nyandarua is approximately 12%, this makes close to 50% of our hospital beds be occupied by HIV/AIDS related ailments. The age group 25-34 years, more so the women, suffer the biggest brunt of this scourge. These challenges have led to the life expectancy in our county to be 54 years; infant and under-five mortality rates are at 45 and 42 out of every 1000 respectively. The county has only about one doctor for every 10,000 people. Our health facilities are understaffed, under-equipped, and lack essential drugs and supplies. Nyandarua County lacks adequate capacity to meet the needs of the 600,000 people that reside in the county. As a healthcare systems management specialist, the people of Nyandarua can rest assured that their senator shall be passionate about developing and supporting policies that will improve the health of our people.

Poverty
Poverty is one problem that successive Kenyan governments have had little success with since independence. What I believe is inexcusable is that that nearly one in every three people in our county are living in abject poverty, and 25% are unemployed. This will change as the resources of County are put to better use to enable all residents of Nyandarua County have a high quality life every day.

Infrastructure and Rural development
Poor infrastructure has been a perennial problem in Nyandarua. Although, the completion of the Dundori-Ol’Kalou-Njabini road is a welcome development, there is need to do much more to develop our infrastructure. Our rural access roads remain in a pathetic state. The high costs of transportation associated with this, and the occasional inability to deliver perishable produce to markets raise the costs and reduce profitability for farmers.

Nyandarua County 2017
Working together with Nyandarua people who are ready to work hard for Nyandarua, we shall ensure Nyandarua County by 2017 leads in both production of food supplies and farmers profitability. We shall grow Nyandarua to have more education opportunity with the best primary and secondary school system in the country and all children getting education to form four. Further we shall initiate a university project in the county so students can further their education. Nyandarua by 2017 should also have about 100 kilometers more of paved roads that service farms and settlements. We should also have at least two well-organized cities emerging. The health system will have improved and the life expectancy increased to over 70 years as we aim to reduce deaths from preventable and treatable illnesses among children and adults to zero.       

Website www.wairirifornyandaruasenate.com

To contact Kimani Email: pkw4ns@gmail.com

Articles and Discussion Contributions by Kimani

Konza City & Project Bill

Interview on Kenya Healthcare System