County First Lady walks to reassure scared elephant

By Godfrey Ndonye

Laikipia County First Lady Mrs. Grace Wakahora Irungu on 1^st July, 2014 flagged off a walk organized to save elephants in the county from further decimation. She first planted a tree to commemorate the occasion. This was followed by a brief speech after which she flagged off the walk from the Governor’s office in Nanyuki town before joining the participants. The walk followed in the wake of poachers wantonly killing elephants and rhinos in the county in the previous few months.

In her speech before she waved the flag, the First Lady lauded the organizers of the walk, singling out Mr. Jimmy Nyamu who has been involved in similar activities in the whole country. She said the value of wildlife goes beyond the perceived monetary value; that it is our heritage and must be conserved for posterity. She assured the county residents that Governor Irungu’s administration will do all in its power to save the endangered wildlife species in the county.

The Governor has recently re-organized his government so that one of the “Ministries” will now deal exclusively with Water, Environment and Natural Resources. This is not to mention the fact that his training is in Natural Resources Management and he is the current Chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee in the Council of Governors.

These goings-on in the highest office of the county lend credence to her Excellency’s assurances. It should also soothe the anxiety of the elephants and the rhinos about their safety.

Laikipia County UNDP GEF SGP grantees to learn citizen journalism

 By Godfrey Ndonye

The Laikipia County UNDP GEF SGP grantees will have their capacity to gather, organize and dissipate information on commercially oriented agriculture, livestock production and natural resources management greatly enhanced. This is after Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), with the assistance of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Small Grants Programme (SGP) organized a three-day training starting from 22^nd July to 24^th July on Citizen Journalism in the Olympia Hotel in Nyahururu, Laikipia West sub-county. The first day of the training was very interesting. After the usual housekeeping rituals during such occasions, Mr. Athony Mugo ran the class through what ALIN is all about and how they relate with their material and moral supporters.

A veteran journalist himself, Mr. Mugo skillfully steered his class of fourteen ‘students’ through the different tools ALIN uses to gather, synthesize and dissipate information, among them FARMIS, And SOKO+ as  well as a proud creation of the group members’ own newsletter, the Laikipia Maliasili.

Mr. Bob, a young journalist already with a journalistic achievement award under his belt, relieved the first facilitator and ably guided the attentive students through the definition of journalism, its rationale and the challenges attendant to it. Mind mapping exercises were followed by instructions on how to organize ones ideas, the difference between news writing and creative writing and, finally, the all-important topic of information gathering techniques.

Mr. Bob capped the day with giving the class pleasantly challenging exercises to be completed and emailed to him before the start of the following day.  If the first day was anything to go by, the training was going to be an attention grabbing activity that would change the attitude and lives of many.