Wheelchairs
Hope Mobility Kenya has donated 400 wheelchairs to People with Disability (PWD) in Makueni County. The organization’s chairman Richard Gerig said besides sharing the hope of Jesus Christ, they also wanted to ensure people with disabilities get wheelchairs in an effort to make a difference in their lives and that of their families, since they will be enabled to move.
He also disclosed that they also brought assorted goods including blankets, balls, crayons and toys among others to be given to the beneficiaries, drawn from across the county.
“Over the next four days, we plan to distribute 400 wheelchairs to persons with disabilities in the county, with 25 US citizens joining the Kenyan team to ensure success,” said Gerig, while addressing the media at Makueni PWD Centre in Wote town on Tuesday. “We do 20 to 25 clinics in different counties in Kenya each year,” he noted.
The team is assembling wheelchairs at the Centre based on the measurements of each beneficiary, including children, women, and men, respectively. Thus, over 2,000 wheelchairs have been distributed across various counties in the country so far. The distribution follows the collaboration between the County Government of Makueni and Hope Mobility Kenya, where people with disability will receive appropriate assistive devices for the next five years.
On his part, Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr said his government will set aside money to help in assessing individuals who need assistance in various villages across the county with a view to benefit from the programme.
“We shall be setting aside money to help our officers to go to villages and assess people to know who needs assistive devices in the villages. The work of the county government is to identify the beneficiaries from the grass root across the county,” said Mutula.
In another development, Mutula said he will launch a complaint officially on why the national government taxed the assorted goods which included wheelchairs, meant to benefit the less fortunate in the society. Consequently, the Governor accused the Kenya Revenue Officers of retaining the donors at the Airport for over 12 hours, though the goods they had were not for sale in the country.
“There is no good reason why such donors should be taxed Sh120,000 and additionally they were held at the Airport for over 12 hours, being interrogated why they have brought toothbrush, crayons, balls and blankets meant to benefit children,” lamented the Governor.
Mutula questioned the government’s handling of donations at the airport, arguing that taxes and long-term hold-ups negatively impact on the morale of other potential donors.
Also present at the function included the deputy Governor Lucy Mulili, Executive Committee Member for Gender, Children, Youth, Sports and Social Services Sabastian Kyoni, his counterparts Eng. Peter Mumo (Infrastructure) and Nicolas Nzioka (Devolution) among other county government officials.