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Trailblazer: How Dr Mutua makes your governor look bad


He wowed everyone when he unveiled the well-manicured Machakos People’s Park, tens of state-of-the-art police cars, 70 ambulances and opened what he called “the fastest built highway in Africa”.

The Kithimani-Makutano ma Mwala road stretching 33km was completed in a record three months. That is not all. It cost Sh650 million instead of Sh1.6 billion (that is a third of the cost for those at the back).

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The police cars were launched in January 2014.

Now, Dr Alfred Mutua, the trailblazing Machakos governor, has embarrassed his colleagues with the refurbishment of Machakos Level 5 Hospital to a snazzy new Model Referral Hospital.

“Today, if you call for a police car and ambulance, anywhere in the county, it will take between five and eight minutes for Police to arrive,” Dr Mutua told this writer in a past interview.

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The Machakos People’s Park.

The hospital boasts of a refurbished and equipped maternity and labour wards to international standards with hot water, modernized outpatient department, MRI Centre, helipad for emergency cases, equipped theatres, Intensive Care Unit, renal dialysis center, digital X-Ray machines and breast cancer screening machine.

An aerial view of the 70 ambulances launched in February at the Machakos Stadium.
An aerial view of the 70 ambulances launched in February at the Machakos Stadium.

Others features include a sterilization machine, telemedicine centre, 40 wireless CCTV cameras and control centre, improved signage to help patients and those visiting locate facilities, security gates and security protocols, 37 trained customer care staff to assist in speeding up services and assisting patients, walkways and comprehensive, modern lighting system, modern public waiting bay and cafeteria and clean public washrooms.

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The 33km Kithimani-Makutano ma Mwala road before (left) and after its construction.