Governor Kiraitu Murungi flanked by Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu has today presided over the inaugural Honors and Award Ceremony which was held in Meru town and attended by leaders of various cadres across Meru community. Awardees identified from a cross-section of community members who were vetted by the Meru County Awards and Honors Committee were awarded various honors in line with the honors and awards Act, 2018, of the County Assembly.

The honors and awards include Order of Koome Njwe (OKN), Order of Kaura O Bechau (OKB), Order of Mugwe (OM), Distinguished Elder of Meru (DEM), Distinguished Daughter of Meru (DDM) and the Distinguished Son of Meru (DSM).

Explaining the significance of the event, Governor Kiraitu said today’s ceremony marked the beginning of a continuous process where the committee will identify and award members of the Meru community who have attained extraordinary achievements through personal sacrifices and struggles.

"It is a continuous process to recognize and honor best sons and daughters of Meru who have made exceptional achievements and made the community proud as religious leaders, farmers, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, philanthropists, pioneer industrialists, among others, whose names will be recorded in a permanent register that will be passed down for future generations to learn and emulate as role models," he said.

The Governor added that the honors and awards and recognition will seek to develop and inculcate moral values such as hard work, honesty in acquisition of wealth and success, and self-sacrifices and discipline among the youth and future generations of Meru people. He pointed out current trends of culture of indiscipline, celebration of fame and wealth acquired without hard work and possessive materialism where people in the community are no longer visionary but spend lifetimes celebrating vanity and temporal material possessions such as new vehicle models and other parochial life goals which have little to no legacy at the end.

He noted that there have been many sons and daughters of Meru like Koome Njwe who led Ameru community from ‘Mbwa’ (Manda Island), Kaura O Bechau who founded Njuri Ncheke, and in recent history, Amb. Francis Muthaura who was voted by the UN as the best civil servant in Africa and the brain behind the success of President Kibaki government who also authored Kenya Vision 2030 and Meru Vision 2040, as well as others such as Prof. Margaret Kobia who reformed the public service in the country as well as Chief Justice Martha Koome who is one of only two female chief justices in the whole of African continent. Governor Kiraitu was the first Senator of Meru under the new constitutional dispensation while Hon. Peter Munya was the first Meru Governor under the new order.

He observed that these are all unique and historical achievements that should be recognized, honored and used as paragons upon which to create a better, progressive and greater Meru society.
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