Day: March 13, 2023

Eldoret Municipality has reached the investment attraction phase in its historic journey to be conferred into the country’s fifth city.

Eldoret being the gateway to the northern transit corridor and gateway to East Africa Community, a 7-member states’ body with a total consumerism of 300 million people, has earned the town a great potential in both agriculture and industry within the context of its commerce sector which includes not only trade but also services and manufacturing.

The town has earned a huge boost by being headquarters of the North Rift Economic bloc (NOREB) which comprises of a number of counties which include Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Samburu, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot. Most of the people from the region carry out several businesses in Eldoret town promoting its commercial status.

In an interview with the Kenya News Agency, Eldoret Municipality Manager Tito Koiyet pointed out that Eldoret is one of the fast-growing towns in Kenya at a rate of about 5.1 per cent to 5.2 per annum in comparison to the national average of about 3.7 per cent.

He affirmed that the journey of elevation into city status has accelerated interest from investors in the field of manufacturing, agro-processing, hospitality and logistics.

“Eldoret is a logistics hub being one of the few towns in Kenya which are privileged to have an international airport, railway line, trunk roads like A8 road crossing the heart of the town and has close proximity to the industrialized urban towns in Kenya like Nakuru, Kitale, Kisumu and other towns within the north rift region,” said Koiyet.

Koiyet noted that Eldoret being an agricultural town has earned it high ratings from people with interest in investing in agricultural value addition and processing particularly in avocado, coffee, macadamia, maize which is the main crop as well as processing of animal feeds and other by-products that are coming from agriculture.

He commended the presence of an international airport, national referral hospital, and educational facilities like Moi and University of Eldoret universities as key to the attainment of city status.

The manager alluded that having an international airport like Moi is a key infrastructural facility for urban growth. Besides facilitating faster access to the country’s capital Nairobi and other regions, the airport provides ease of access to regional and international markets for the perishable agricultural export products like flowers among others hence boosting foreign exchange earnings.

He further said that Eldoret is educational hub as it hosts a number of internationally recognized universities which work in collaboration with the municipality in areas like carrying out research and studies of various types within the municipality and also around the country.

Koiyet mentioned that Eldoret is also a hub of medical services with a leading national referral hospital, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), which has pumped so many other opportunities in the space of medical services in Eldoret, making it one of the busiest medical destinations in Kenya with people coming from various parts of the country as well neighbouring countries like Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

“Eldoret itself, as it embarks on the journey of becoming a city, is fully prepared to host all the opportunities that come. The county and the municipality have invested in relevant infrastructure to support the influx of investors. We have done roads, drainage, street lights, we are doing non-motorized transportation and improving facilities as well,” said Koiyet.

“The county government has also been talking to various investors who are already investing in hospitals and other social amenities,” he added.

Koiyet confirmed that negotiations with various investors are ongoing from both the county and the municipal levels as well as at the national level with the main areas of interest being housing, logistics and warehousing as well as general construction for infrastructural development and other social amenities within the region.

The journey to the conferment of Eldoret in to the country’s fifth city received a huge boost from the UK which supported the municipality to develop Urban Economic Development Plan. The plan entails detailed study of the opportunities that are available in Eldoret and as a result, a long list of value chains was identified that any investor could readily invest in with assured return on investment.

The main areas of focus in the plan are in Trade and Services, Infrastructure Development and Economic Empowerment.

Koiyet pointed out that there was a wide range of opportunities identified in the final report prepared by the Ad Hoc committee on the conferment of Eldoret into a city that was handed over to the UK High Commissioner Jane Mariot.

“Two weeks ago, we had the UK High Commissioner to whom we officially handed over the report. As we speak, we are in what we call investment attraction phase where a list of projects have been identified sounding as potential investment opportunities and The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the British High Commission has kindly accepted to do some seed funding for those investors who wish to pick up some of those opportunities,” said Koiyet.

In regard to affordable housing, Koiyet stated that the municipality has sufficient space of undeveloped land which is serviced and other land which requires redevelopment to accommodate all levels of residents from single bedroom dwelling units to 3- and 4-bedroom.

He hinted on the idea of constructing high-rise buildings to accommodate as many people as possible by affording them urban living standards.

“There is a national effort by the President to ensure every city has sufficient housing for its residents and Eldoret has not been left behind. We are working together with the national government and our governor is more particular about improving the housing of Eldoret residents. The town has fairly enough space to construct houses suitable for all cadres of people in Kenya particularly for affordable housing,” he said.

The chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee on conferment of Eldoret to city status, Willy Kenei, who also serves as Uasin Gishu Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) chairperson revealed that the committee is satisfied that the municipality has met all the requisite requirements by the law to become a city like infrastructural facilities like roads, street lighting, markets, fire stations, waste disposal and disaster management capacity.

“As the Ad hoc committee we looked into many criteria provided by the law to ensure that if we become a city, the residents will be able to be served by the services and utilities available in the municipality. We are satisfied that the municipality has sufficient infrastructural development to support the city. We have sufficient health care services, educational facilities, airport, crematorium and many others,” said Kenei.

He noted that industrialization would spur growth in Eldoret and that the government is ready to set up industrial parks and economic zones.

He added that infrastructural development in terms of roads, waste management and power is already developed and that the only thing an investor would do is come with equipment and set up their manufacturing ventures.

“We have raw materials especially in the agriculture sector, human resource, education institutions in this region and the labour are readily available. This will be a game changer in terms of economics of the city which will also be a key opportunity in providing employment to many residents,” explained Kenei.

Kenei pointed out that the committee is in the final stages of preparing the report which upon completion, would be handed over to the county executive who will in turn hand it to the County Assembly to be tabled and discussed on. The Assembly will later forward the report to the Senate for further discussion and recommendations and finally handed over to the President for consideration of the conferment of Eldoret into a city.

“As stakeholders from this region most likely at the end of the year, Eldoret will become a city. This will attract many investors from outside Eldoret and even internationally to come and set up manufacturing ventures,” he said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The National Steering Committee on drought response has scaled up the food distribution in the country with key institutions and stakeholders joining in to pool together to supplement efforts by the Government to mitigate the adverse effects of the protracted drought facing the country.

President William Ruto established the committee in November of 2022 and mandated it to coordinate efforts to raise funds for drought response. Wakenya Tulidane campaign, an initiative by the committee has raised Sh650 million, proceeds donated by Safaricom, Equity Bank and Kenyans of good will to cushion the ravaging effects of drought in vulnerable areas.

Speaking in Mariakani Kilifi County during the distribution exercise, the Chairman of the Committee Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Safaricom Peter Ndegwa said that Wakenya Tulindane programme has so far received overwhelming support from Kenyans from all walks of life including institutions that have helped to actualize the goal of feeding hunger stricken citizens.

“The country has continued to experience prolonged drought that has affected a huge portion of our population. The weatherman has predicted that the rains are due in the next few weeks but before that, we have to ensure we play our part and help Kenyans in need,” said Ndegwa.

Ndegwa noted that approximately 6 million Kenyans have been affected. He added that his committee has started scaling up the distribution to far flung counties that traditionally were not rain deficient but have now been tremendously affected.

He further said that by the end of March, he is optimistic that they will have reached out to at least 1600 families.

“This week, we were able to distribute food in nine counties which we have equated to about 1053 families,” he said.

On water shortage, he said the committee is planning to rehabilitate 360 boreholes in 32 counties in partnership with Kenya Defense Forces and on completion approximately 2 million people will directly benefit from such.

On his part, Kenya Red Cross representative and a committee member Adam Kheri said the Red Cross community will work hand in hand with the committee to support the distribution efforts and will be keen especially where children were involved.

He noted that the programme would also help keep students in school especially in arid and semi-arid areas where their efforts will help augment the school feeding programme.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Nakuru County government is investing more in theatre and nurturing diverse and vibrant creative talents aimed at creating more employment opportunities to address the rising unemployment cases among the youthful population.

Tourism and Culture Chief Officer Ms Rosemary Wambui said the county government was making good use of the available theatre infrastructure to scout for emerging talents across the devolved unit.

Wambui was happy that introduction of prime arts and comedy segments in nearly all television stations was a clear indication that art was becoming a paying venture adding that besides the performing arts, visual arts and cultural heritage, Kenyans were now producing films, videos, television and radio shows, video games, music and books which were increasingly becoming popular among Kenyans both in urban and rural set-ups.

While voicing the county administration’s commitment to supporting creative activities for economic gains, the CECM said the county was also supporting important work being undertaken in graphic design, fashion and advertising subsectors within the County.

The official was speaking after a meeting with county staff and stakeholders to deliberate on the preparations of the World Arts Day celebration scheduled to be held on April 15 this year.

She observed that art was critical in expressing emotions, communicating ideas and transmitting knowledge from one generation to another and advised that the best way of encouraging progressive thinking and innovative ideas to advance a ‘creative economy’ was cultivating young people’s imagination and creativity.

“The event is creating a platform for industry players and stakeholders to learn, share and celebrate their diverse artistic creations and also leverage these talents to advocate for national cohesion in society,” added Ms Wambui.

She said the event would also be used as a forum to promote artistic expression for national cohesion and sustainable development as participants will show off their raw talent and novel ideas.

“This not only gives visual and performing artists a platform to showcase their work but also provides a marketing venue for products,” she added.

Consequently, the chief officer said the event would promote teamwork and unity and play a pivotal role in the celebration of the country’s cultural heritage as the youth participate in activities key in supporting livelihoods and the empowerment of their immediate communities.

At the same time, the CECM said it was important for counties to fully utilize homegrown talent in all their events as art was an expressive, non-threatening way to express inner feelings adding that Nakuru County was comitted to promoting and protecting local artists against exploitation with the World Arts Day Celebration providing an opportunity for young people to explore music, drama, dance, film, art and fashion.

She hailed the Youth Affairs, Sports and Arts Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba’s announcement to the effect that his Ministry was preparing a new legal framework to protect Kenyan creatives and the industry.

According to Namwamba, the New Creatives Economy Bill has an all-encompassing legal framework to manage the industry.

For too long, culture and arts have been made marginal to national development due to conservative attitudes of what they entail.

Cultural experts have however indicated that limiting culture to tradition and ethnography denies the nation the opportunities provided by the imagination, technological advances, rapid urbanization and the energies released by cultural interconnectedness.

Proclaimed at the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 2019, the World Art Day is geared towards promoting the development, diffusion and enjoyment of art.

Source: Kenya News Agency