Sipili youth races

Friday, 27th April was a great day for the youth in Sipili parish, as they assembled at the Lariak primary school-track field to witness their members competes against each other in various athletics and bicycle racing events. 

The usual robust annual event, were this year a viewed as dismal to many due to poor schedule and poor attendance; however, this did not hinder the fans from enjoying especially because this year included a new race that is Bike Racing. The events included ; 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500m and3000m for both genders.

 The bike race was the event of the day and commenced at 10.00am at Mugiko, with five check points each with a ticket at the entrance. 

The winner was a young man only named as Bernard. He left the other competitors with a good distance. The price giving ceremony will be held at the church on a later date.

No more water scarcity, come rain come shine.

 By Mbuthi Jeremia.

 The residents of Kirima location in Ol-moran division will now have something to smile about. This is after a stalled water project that has taken more than thirty years to be developed is now on its final touches.

 The project located at Minjore village was initiated by the then Laikipia west Mp. Hon. G.G Kariuki in 1975. Then it was used to supply water to Dimcom location.

 Insecurity in the area and poor management of this project, led to disappearance of diesel engine. The water pumping diesel machine is alleged to have been stolen together with the metal pipes that connected the 8km distance from the borehole to the tank at Dimcom.

Thirty years down the line, this initiative was left unattended. By the year 2003 the government had realized the suffering of residents due to lack of water, the project was revived through the ministry of water and sanitation, which allocated Ksh 7 million for the project.

This time round the water pipes were diverted to supply water to Kirima location. Residents of this location enjoyed the water supply for merely two years and the thirty year old story repeated itself. The diesel pumping machine and the pipes went missing.

  The same project received some other Ksh 8 million from the government for its renovation in the 2007, thanks to the present area MP. Hon Ndiritu Muriithi and Cllr. Mbuthi Peter of Kirima ward. This renovation entails installation of an electric motor in place of the diesel machine that is highly prone to theft. According to Laikipia west water Engineer; eng. Ndura, electrification of the project is expected to use Ksh 11 million.

 The project formerly known as Dimcom water project has been renamed; Minjore water project and is intended to benefit more than 2000 families within the six villages in Kirima location, an area of about 25 square kilometers. ''We are waiting for the KPLC to install the electricity cables and the project will be through," said Eng Ndura.

Boda Boda operator murdered in Sipili.

By Wajoe

  A motor cycle ‘‘boba boda’’ operator, was yesterday strangled to death in Sipili and his motor cycle stolen by people posing as clients. Eliud Mwangi Njuguna, the ill fated boda boda operator and owner of a barber shop at Sipili town, hails from Kahuruko village.  It is reported that Eliud had woke up early on Monday 23^rd April to catch a bus to Nyahururu town for his personal duties.  

  The deceased, returned later in the evening at around 5.00 p.m aboard a Nyahururu-Sipili mini-bus known by locals as Dallas. The hard working young man is said to have gone straight to his barber shop where he had parked his motorcycle in the morning. A few minutes later he was seen in a nearby butchery ordering some meat to take home after the day’s work.

Some of his fellow operators said that he was seen with two men who were bargaining for transport fares. The two men wanted to be taken to a nearby Kiriko village. Unknown to Eliud was the ill motives of the ‘‘customers’’! He accepted the offer and carried the two ‘‘customers’’ perhaps in harry to enable him get back home early and have dinner with his family. It is alleged that upon reaching a place known as ‘‘mlima fisi’’ (which can be loosely be translated as Hyena’s hill) the two men strangled him to death in cold blood and dumped the body by the roadside.  

 “I heard somebody screaming, but since this village has many drunkards who scream at night after drinking chang’aa in the neighborhood, I didn’t take interest in the matter”, said Mr. Mwangi whose home is near the murder scene.

  The people who got there early in the morning discovered the body of the young man, dumped in the farm. There were signs of struggle because the side mirror of his motorbike and his cap were found scattered at the scene. His personal documents were found almost half a kilometer away in an open field but his motorcycle was has not been recovered. 

 The sad news spread like bush fire across Sipili and Kinamba towns and the neighboring villages. People trooped to the scene in large numbers to witness the gruesome act which has cut short the bright life Eliud Mwangi. In solidarity his boda boda colleagues searched for any trace of the motorcycle in the nearby shrubs but there wasn’t any sign.

The police later arrived at the scene of crime in a G.K range rover. Kinamba police station O.C.S addressed the boda boda operators and advised them on reviving their organization for security reasons. They were advised to carry passengers from one designated area to avoid being cornered by strangers masquerading to be passengers.

 The boda boda chairman Mr. Chege was at pains explaining to the O.C.S why their organization is not active. The body of the deceased was taken to Nyahururu District hospital mortuary. 

An angry entourage of more than fifty motorbikes each carrying three people snaked through Kiriko and Karungubii villages hooting and moving slowly. In a show of solidarity with their fallen colleague they parked the bikes next to the bus terminus at Sipili town and had a quick and impromptu fundraiser to support help the family of the deceased.

                                                                  

  

ALIN bags ICT innovation award

Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) (www.alin.net) has scooped an ICT innovation award offered by the Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat. The award announced on April 4th, 2012 at a celebratory event during the Connected Kenya Summit in Diani, Kenya, recognizes and celebrates Kenyans who have developed ICT solutions that drive economic growth and social development as outlined in Kenya’s Vision 2030. 

Companies or organizations which are registered in Kenya and have had their products in the market for at least six months are eligible to apply for the award.

ALIN through (Maarifa) Knowledge centres, have introduced a range of ICT solutions seeking to improve the livelihoods of communities living in the arid and semi arid areas of Kenya Uganda and Tanzania. The products are enabling access to information through the Internet, library services, online market information (www.sokopepe.co.ke). Free ICT trainings are also offered at the Maarifa centers.

As sipili grows, people need exposure and change.

By Ann Kinyanjui

 In the recent past, Sipili trading centre was just small shanties and kiosks. The centre is an important business site serving a wider geographical area and big populations of people, majority of which are farmers and pastoralist. The living standards of the populations are not very good. Many people are struggling to make ends meet and poverty level is still high. Food security is affected by low rainfall.

 Sipili centre is connected to the rest of the country by a five kilometer stretch of rough road, linking up Sipili to the Kinamba-Nyahururu tarmac road. The road linking up sipili to Rumuruti is also muddy. The rough roads are usually messy during rainy seasons. 

After several years without electricity, the service was finally brought and Sipili started to grow at a higher rate. Many businesses started coming up and developing to big enterprises.

Other than businesses many schools were built. At first, Sipili secondary school was the only secondary school, in the area. But now there are a number of them for example; Lariak, Kio, Mithuri, and Ndurumo secondary schools. Many private secondary schools were also built thus encouraging education in the area. Primary schools both private and public were also started to meet the needs of a rising population. A good number of pupils however still drop out of school due to many factors such as poverty and HIV AIDS.  

In spite of the positive developments, lack of mobility and exposure has led to many people getting behind especially in their way of thought. It is possible to find a person who did not even go to school at all. A good number of people went to school in Sipili area from nursery school to secondary school. If such a person don’t get a good grade or does not join any university or college or secure a job in another area, he/she will end up settling down to live in Sipili and later marry or get married in the area. The point here is; their birth certificates, school certificates and later the death certificate will all read Sipili!

There is a challenge whenever people do not travel and get exposed to what takes place in the rest of the world. The latter is a big issue that needs to change. Many people are in this category and ways should be found to avoid such situations. The growth of Sipili town has brought with it many advantages and disadvantages.

During early days at least some circumstances like banking services could force people to travel, but since the introduction of agency banking and mobile money transfer services, it is no longer a must for one to travel to get the service. This is however good for cutting down on expenses, but it has also denied people a chance to travel to big towns to meet people from diverse backgrounds. 

The risk with people who lack exposure is that, if they happen to get a chance to travel to big cities, they may end up getting lost or needing someone to take them by the hand. They also risk losing their property to thugs. 

In view of this, majority of Sipili people needs exposure to enable them change their mindset.