Speaking at Lumakanda Township, Lugari Sub County during her homecoming ceremony after being re-elected to head the network for a second term, Mrs. Murunga pledged to ensure equal distribution of resources to all people registered under the organization.
She criticized her predecessor whom she accused of only concentrating on Nairobi while sidelining other parts of the country. “This organization had been reduced to look like a briefcase NGO for Nairobi people,” she said. Mrs. Murunga disclosed during her first term in office she has initiated various development projects in several Sub Counties to benefit people living with HIV /AIDS revealing that her aim was to start projects in all the 290 sub counties.
She said in Kakamega she had already rolled out projects in Butere and
Navakholo Sub Counties while Malava was the next target.
However, she regretted that her efforts to help her home Sub County of Lugari had been scuffled by officials at the Lumakanda Sub County hospital because of their selfish interests. She called on the Ministry of Health to collaborate with her organization to tackle the spread of the disease.
Mrs. Murunga also lamented the stigmatization against people living with HIV/AIDS in various parts of the country. These people, she said, require love, care, and other necessary
assistance to enable them to live normal lives.
She regretted that even politicians don’t want to be associated with them yet their votes were valid like that of any other Kenyan citizen. “When we invite them they don’t attend our functions just because they think we are of no value in the society but let them be informed that being HIV-positive is not the end of life, we can live for decades and help our people,” she said calling on leaders to ensure the group was included in various development committees.
Noting that majority of men were afraid of knowing their HIV status Mrs. Murunga advised them to voluntarily go for HIV testing and counselling to establish their status. The ceremony was attended by representatives from all the 47 counties.
