Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and his deputy Mathews Owili. [Photo|R.Muyela]
Kisumu County Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with various partners to establish ambulatory and Disaster management services.
The Governor, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o said this will borrow heavily from a Cabinet Memo he wrote while he served as Health minister on the establishment of National ambulatory and emergency services.
He was speaking on Monday while meeting with Dr. Mohammud Mohamed, the Governor of Kenya Red Cross Society and Lilian Ouma, the Program Coordinator for Global Fund in Western Kenya region before being installed as the Patron of KRCS.
Prof Nyong’o said the command centre will help in the early warning sign for quick action, especially now that incidents of fire disasters have become a major problem in Kisumu County which has only one fire engine.
The devolved unit, Nyong’o said had a population of about 1.2million people but has only one fire engine and wondered what would happen if there was a fire outbreak in the far-flung areas of katito (Nyakach) or Koru (Muhoroni).
He drew a comparison having visited Minnesota city, USA alone which has 21 fire engines with 291 fire stations and a population of about 500, 000 people yet it was established in 1935.
More fire stations, Nyong’o said shall be established at Maseno, Kisumu West and Seme.
He said the Red Cross Society has come at an appropriate time for this partnership but quickly revealed that from Minnesota, USA his government will get some fire engines alongside other second-hand fire engines from Britain and will only cater for importation costs.
Dr Mohamed disclosed that KRCS played a leading role in the establishment of the Kenya National Disaster Management centre in Nairobi after the Westgate terror attack.