The Speaker of the County Assembly,

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. JACKSON K. ARAP MANDAGO, GOVERNOR, UASIN GISHU COUNTY DURING THE STATE OF THE COUNTY ADDRESS AT COUNTY ASSEMBLY, ELDORET ON WEDNESDAY, 29TH JUNE, 2022

The Speaker of the County Assembly,

It gives me immense pleasure to address this special sitting in line with my constitutional obligation to outline the state of the county in my final year in office and shade light on the implementation status of the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) as well as the successes of devolution since its inception in 2013.

From the onset, I wish to state that during my tenure, the objects of devolution as stipulated in the constitution of Kenya 2010 have clearly been manifested. Among them being; promotion of social and economic development and provision of proximate, easily accessible services across the County, fostering County unity by recognizing diversity and enhancing participation of the people in making decisions. Devolution has offered an opportunity for us to innovatively respond to the challenges facing our people. The infrastructural transformation of Eldoret town, as well as the rural areas, numerous youth empowerment programmes, and the improved access to quality health care that has been achieved in the last ten years attest to the great impact of devolution.

Hon. Speaker,

Just like I said four years ago, I repeat here again that I still bring to the people of this great County of Uasin Gishu a message of optimism, will power, resilience and purpose as we pull together from a period ravaged by Corona virus pandemic and economic recess, which demanded concerted efforts by all stakeholders to ensure that we remain on track in achieving the development agenda that we promised the people of this county. Despite this and other challenges, we have strived to forge a culture of efficiency and accountability. Indeed, I take this earliest opportunity to appreciate the support from all players that was accorded to me and my Government.

Hon. Speaker,

The message I bring has over the years served to remind us of our mission of sending the people of this great county to the land of unbridled access to prosperity and self-sufficiency. We have continually purposed, in abeyance with the constitution of Kenya 2010 to engage the public in the implementation of our development agenda.

Hon. Speaker,

My government has continued to work in consultation and cooperation very with the National Government to ensure that there is adequate security, peace, and cohesion amongst the citizens of this county. This has been strengthened by the believe that this endeavor is a key pillar in enhancing a conducive environment for our people to work, trade and consequently attract foreign investment. The positive remarks given by the Auditor General, The Governor of the Central Bank, the Controller of Budget and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in their recent visits to our County points to the fact that we are doing well as a County.

Hon. Speaker,

May I take this earliest opportune time to most sincerely appreciate the members of this honorable house for their diligent contributions in their roles of legislation, oversight and representation. So far, this honorable house has been able to pass remarkable pieces of legislation that have informed strategic development agenda and service delivery to the people of this county. For this, I thank the people of Uasin Gishu County present here today and those following these proceedings from afar on various media platforms for their voice of reason through public participation, feedback and oversight that gives legitimacy, ownership and purpose to our development agenda. I also thank the County staff for their commitment to service, exemplary work ethic, efficiency and team work in delivering the vision of this Great County. I could not have chosen a better team to work with.

Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries

Hon. Speaker,

In this address, I have deliberately organized my speech in line with our departments for ease of follow up. The department of Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries is the backbone of the County’s economy and hence has been a key area of focus in my Government. The mandate of this Department is to improve livelihoods through the implementation of appropriate policies and programs geared towards the creation of jobs, wealth and food security for our people and the nation at large. This has been achieved through effective extension and support services, technology, innovation and continuous farmer training programs. To this end, I wish to report that my Government has progressively increased funding to the department and facilitated the mobility of field extension officers to reach farmers through farm visits, demonstrations, field days, exhibitions and common interest group training. As a result, farm visits have increased from three visits per officer per day to ten visits per officer per day.

Hon. Speaker,

My Government has also transformed Agricultural Mechanization Services (AMS) into Agricultural Mechanization and Value Addition Services (AMVAS) to broaden mechanized Agricultural production by farmers. AMVAS has extended its mandate to include the value chain and agricultural enterprise incubation and management. Upon its full transformation, my government has positioned AMVAS as an incubation centre for the development and eventual privatization of agricultural enterprises to the benefit of farmers. The potato value chain is a typical example of what AMVAS has achieved in mechanizing potato production that has seen an increase in the acreage under potatoes. Through AMVAS, my Government procured more farm tractors, maize planters, potato sets, seed drills and a shredder for conservation agriculture and offered machinery calibration services for optimum plant population resulting in increased yields per unit area.

Hon. Speaker,

The department of Agriculture has identified high-value crops as a strategy for improving livelihoods through increased household incomes. To achieve this, my government has continually allocated funds to the diversification programme resulting in 1,765 acres under avocado, 220 acres of tissue culture bananas, 350 acres of macadamia and 500 acres of coffee recording an estimated value of Ksh 2.57 billion annually. In order to value-add agricultural produce, my Government has procured and installed a one-ton-per-hour capacity eco-pulper at Tapsagoi Farmers’ Co-operative Society and four (4) motorized pulpers for farmer groups in Soy, Moiben, Ainabkoi, and Kapseret Sub Counties. To address post-harvest losses, we have constructed two high-capacity (15,000 bags of 90kg) cereal stores in Tuiyo and Tulwet/Chuiyat. We have also built two Irish potato cold stores at Matharu and Kipkabus.

Hon. Speaker,

In an effort to address youth unemployment, my Government has cumulatively allocated KES 54.1 Million in the last ten years to support 259 youth groups engaged in various agribusiness activities. In order to enhance knowledge and skill transfer, my government has improved training infrastructure at ATC Chebororwa, in Moiben Sub-County. This includes two complete hostels, a modern dairy unit, a tree nursery with a capacity of 2.5 million seedlings, a multipurpose hall with capacity of 1000 people, and the acquisition of a 49-seater modern bus to allow farmer tours and experiential learning. Through field days and exhibitions more than 50,000 farmers have been trained on Technologies, innovations and management practices aimed at increasing agricultural productivity. As a Government, we have taken advantage of collaborative partnerships to develop reliable delivery streams for technology through which the department has two projects funded jointly by the National Government and development partners. One such project is the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) jointly funded by the World Bank, National Government and the County Government. Six wards of Kipsomba, Kapsoya, Kapkures, Ainabkoi/Olare, Tarakwa and Tulwet/Chuiyat were selected to pilot Implementation and so far, a total of 247 groups have been supported with a total of Ksh. 130 Million to roll out Technologies, Innovations and Management practices along the prioritized Value chains of Dairy, Irish potatoes and Indigenous Chicken. The groups have witnessed improved food security, income and employment creation for youth and women. In addition, the project has completed Usalama/Chemusian irrigation project at a total cost of Kshs. 34 Million which has enabled 514 households to produce crops whole year round, contrary to dependence on rain fed agriculture. The irrigation project has led to a 50% improvement in food production.

Hon. Speaker,

Operation Maziwa Lita Kumi is another sub-project supported by KCSAP at a total cost of KSh.94 Million. The sub-project targets to improve milk production from 4 to 10 litres per cow in a day and improve marketing through selected Famers’ cooperative societies. For this to be realized, a total of 2400 farmers have been recruited from 12 cooperatives across the six sub-counties and established over 2400 acres of fodder to feed 4800 cows i.e. 2 cows per farmer. Out of the 4,800 cows, 1800 have been synchronized and served with sexed semen. This sub-project will see milk coolers previously constructed by the County government, filled with milk in an effort towards better prices for the farmers. The project also aims at reducing calving intervals which previously stood at one calf in 2-3 years to 1 calf each year.

East Coast Fever is one of the most severe diseases contributing to 80% of deaths in the dairy sector and to address this, my government through KCSAP has vaccinated over 24,000 animals across the County and which in essence has reduced economic losses to the farmers and ultimately improving value for their livestock. Additionally, in FY 2021/2022 KCSAP budgeted to fund more sub-projects that include; Ogiek honey productivity project, Kapchunga water Project, Chebinyiny water project and Berur-Kimuri water project. The planned projects will benefit 1500, 2400, 1200 and 600 households respectively.

Hon. Speaker,

The Agriculture Sector Development Support Program II (ASDSP II) funded by GoK, the Swedish Government and the County Government of Uasin Gishu focuses on three priority value chains; Passion Fruits, Dairy and Indigenous Chicken targeting a total of 9,296 value chain actors (VCAs). To support Cooperative Societies, the Bank has approved proposals for the Singalo cooperative amounting to Ksh.7.5 Million and Ainabkoi cooperative at Ksh. 10 Million. I wish therefore to encourage more cooperative societies within the value chains of dairy, Irish potatoes and Indigenous chicken to apply for this grant. I also call upon private sector players involved in the processing of agricultural produce in the aforementioned value chains to work with Farmers Cooperative Societies to add value to their produce.

Agriculture, Livestock Development and FisheriesCO-OPERATIVES & ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Hon. Speaker,

The department of Co-operatives and Enterprise development plays a key role in resource allocation and management of our key sectors of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries development as well as Trade and Industrialization. Through co-operatives and enterprise development, my Government has provided solutions to challenges in capital access for enhanced market access and management of our value chain systems to the benefit of our traders and farmers.

It is in recognition of the challenges that our farmers and traders face that my government established a fully-fledged department of co-operatives and enterprise development with the following directorates;

The Directorate of co-operative development to work with the various interest groups in formation of co-operative movements.

The directorate of enterprise development working under the framework of the Uasin Gishu County Enterprise Development Act to manage a revolving fund from which cooperative movements borrow affordable finance for their economic activities. This directorate is also charged with loan recovery and

The directorate of co-operative audit and risk management which helps the co-operative movements to maintain their books of accounts while managing risks. The directorate also advises the government on the going concern of our co-operatives movements and informs the cooperative movements’ viability of their proposed and ongoing ventures.

Hon. Speaker,

Under my leadership, the department of co-operatives and enterprise development has registered 278 co-operative societies and revived 56 old SACCOs that had collapsed. Out of these, 246 have grown and can now be classified as sustainable and profitable. This was achieved through the close supervision of co-operative officers tasked to work with the memberships. Today, we have 35 Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCO) organizations in each sub-county. The department was able to do this through deliberate pre-cooperative trainings which to date stand at over 800 and were aimed at creating awareness to the public on co-operative matters and educating interested groups desirous of registering co-operatives, on operations and management of co-operative societies. This has resulted in the registration of 278 other new co-operative societies that include, youth Saccos, ward based Saccos, Boda-boda Saccos, matatu Saccos, hawkers Saccos, farmers’ co-operative unions and other types of co-operatives. Alongside this, I also wish to report that Cooperative management committees have been trained through various programs on leadership, governance, management, and oversight where over 10,600 leaders have been trained. This has resulted in a tremendous improvement in the management and governance of co-operatives. In addition, 402 member education programs have been conducted from which capacity of over 65,000 members has been built on operations of societies which in turn have increased share capital and various projects financed.

Hon. Speaker,

The department of cooperatives has successfully organised benchmarking tours to the Counties of Murang’a, Meru and Kiambu which involved youths and leaders of cooperative unions with the aim of exposing them to avocado farming termed as ‘green gold’ in those counties and value addition in maize and milk. Through these visits, the groups were exposed to practical skills important in the operationalization of the newly enacted Uasin Gishu County Co-operative Societies Act coupled with investment opportunities and ways of raising capital for investment. In addition, the department has up-scaled capacity building programs that have boosted of development partners to work with the co-operatives with the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Program (KSCAP), Heifer International, Happy Cow, Isec, supporting farmer-to-farmer-technical support and Kenya National Association of Farmers (KNAF) handling advocacy matters. It is worth mentioning here that Forty six (46) buildings to house milk coolers have been constructed and 23 of these have been fully installed. A maize milling plant has been established in Moisoy Farmers’ Co-operative Union at a cost of Kshs. 477 million and construction is at 49% complete. Additionally, Kuona Mbele farmers’ co-operative society has established a small-scale maize milling plant in Burnt Forest financed by Co-operative Enterprise Development Fund while Borotet and Marathon Farmers Co-operative Unions are in the process of establishing small scale milling plants and weighbridges at a cost of Kshs. 50 million each.

Hon. Speaker,

In ensuring compliance with co-operative legislations, I am happy to report that 1,149 Annual General Meetings and 654 Special General Meetings and 10,870 management committee meetings have been conducted since inception of devolution. To enhance transparency and accountability seventeen (17) have been conducted and implementation of the reports is in progress. A special book-keeping center was established in 2019 to write books for co-operatives. In an effort to ensure that co-operatives within the county are protected from the national co-operative legislation that does not recognize devolution, Uasin Gishu County Co-operative Societies Act 2021 has been enacted. On this, allow me honourable speaker to thank this honourable house for being proactive by passing such pieces of legislation.

Hon. Speaker,

In Ensuring access to affordable credit by Co-operative societies, the County Co-operative Enterprise Development Fund was established in the year 2014 to provide affordable credit for the cooperative institutions to promote the welfare and economic uplifting of the people of Uasin Gishu County. To date, the County Fund has supported a total of 176 cooperative societies with loans amounting to KShs. 508 million.

The financing has impacted positively on livelihoods and household economies of the residents of Uasin Gishu by enabling cooperative societies to either expand their operations or venture into new sectors of interest. The formation of cooperative unions by primary cooperative societies that ventured into value addition is a major milestone achieved by the government through the County Enterprise Development Fund financing. The County Government has allocated over Kshs 330 million for the financing of these projects through the primary cooperatives. I wish to note that, the Fund has so far financed nine (9) Cooperative Societies with over Kshs. 40 million on Asset Financing loans particularly for the Dairy Cooperative Societies to enable them to increase efficiency in milk collection and reduce transportation costs for milk to the processors. Thirteen (13) Women-based Cooperative Societies and thirteen (13) Youth-based cooperatives have also been financed to a tune of Kshs 31.5 million and Kshs 19.8 million respectively.

Hon. Speaker,

My Government has established special co-operatives and on this front, AGPO Sacco was registered in the year 2018 and has enabled women, youth and PWDs to access affordable credit to service their tenders with the county Government. Additionally, membership in co-operatives has increased to 102,000 with share capital now standing at Two hundred and eighty million, nine hundred and sixty-six thousand and fifteen shillings (Kshs. 280,966,015.00) deposits at Two billion, two hundred and fifty-seven million, seventy-four thousand, five hundred and forty-seven shillings (Kshs.2, 257,074,547.00), turnover of Nine hundred and seventy-five million, five hundred and two thousand and thirty-four shillings, (Kshs. 975,502,034.00) and asset base of Three Billion, six hundred and three million, seven hundred and eight thousand, six hundred and six shillings ( Kshs.3,603,708,606.00) which include physical assets and loans to members. From the above, I can confidently report that Co-operatives in the county have played a major role in helping members to create wealth. Allow me to mention Kokwatai Investment Co-operative Society as an example that has grown exponentially from extending loans to its membership to acquire land and buildings. Others saccos like Ainabkoi Farmers Co-operative, Mwalimu Investment co-operative, Ghalani investment co-operative, and Noble Sacco have ventured into property ownership, transport, investment in automotive spare the shops, as well as establishment of fuel stations. Matatu Saccos on the other hand have helped in streamlining the transport industry by instilling discipline and affording their members an opportunity to save and invest in new areas such as the petroleum industry.

TRADE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION

Hon. Speaker,

The department of Trade and Industrialization is mandated to implement activities that enhance promotion of orderly growth of trade through provision of business development services and trade regulation. It has played a leading role in addressing the high rate of unemployment among youths and women by supporting Micro and Small Enterprises and championing aggressive promotion of the county to attract both Domestic and Direct Foreign Investment (FDI).

Hon. Speaker,

As a county we have revived and established co-operative movements that have resulted in the growth of rural micro-economies. To ensure that traders operate in a favourable environment, we have constructed and rehabilitated a total of 73 markets that are now in operation since 2013.

With great pleasure may I kindly inform this honourable house that Phase I of our flagship ultra-modern Kimumu/Bahati fresh produce wholesale market which was constructed at a cost Kshs. 110 million is now complete. The market houses 2,000 traders and has four cold rooms with a capacity to hold 60 tonnes of fresh produce and will trade 400 tonnes of fresh foods daily. This translates to roughly 80% of unsold fresh produce that will be saved from post-harvest losses. The cold rooms are solar- powered with a three-phase HEP power installation to ensure a power blackout fool-proof system. This market is expected to form the apex of Uasin Gishu and North Rift market network and we are currently installing a Market Information Management System which will link all market across the county into a central information console controlled from this market. The system will operate like the National Stocks Exchange and will provide information such as availability, volume and prices of all goods traded in all markets countrywide and across the East Africa region and hence will expand the market reach for our traders from the grass root markets.

Hon. Speaker,

As we address the need for market infrastructure, there are three other major factors that hinder growth of trade and investment in our county namely; lack of adequate finances for start-ups and growth, sustenance of ease of doing business and formalization and standardization of goods and services offered by our traders. To address this, my Government has rolled out Inua Biashara Fund which through it loans have been disbursed to 462 successful individual traders and 83 groups amounting to Ksh 50 million against 3505 applications whose funding would cost 1 billion Kenya Shillings. On average, 15 individual applicants and 2 group applicants received a total of Kshs 1.7 Million in each of our 30 wards. This huge number of Inua Biashara applicants indicate our people’s industrious nature and good appetite to venture into businesses which in turn will result in self-employment. Because of this situation, I therefore urge this honourable house to consider allocation of more funds to the Inua Biashara Fund.

Hon. Speaker,

In the last 9 years of interaction with Uasin Gishu traders, trade organizations and unions, my government has realised and steadily worked to tap into the available technical, human and organizational resources to build capacity for our traders. This by itself speaks to our third major challenge which is formalization, standardization and harmonization of trade acts, treaties, protocols and standards as a way of capacity building. On this, I wish to note that Eldoret is the central nervous system of over Kshs. 100 billion in circulation and a 6-million strong population residing and doing business within the larger economic bloc of North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB). It therefore follows that the 19,000 Uasin Gishu Micro-Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have direct impact on the regional trade especially in Agro-industry, transport and MSME manufacturing.

Hon. Speaker,

In view of this potential and interventions made through programs such as Inua Biashara Fund and sponsoring traders to trade expos; our challenge now lies with urging and collaborating with the State Department of Trade and Industrialization to harmonize trade protocols with those of our East African neighbours. This will truly guarantee free movement of goods across our borders thereby opening more opportunities for our people. We also continue to engage the eight NOREB counties to complement our inter-county trading policies and laws with the goal of removing existing trading barriers, improving the ease of doing business across the bloc and ultimately positioning North Rift as one of the economic bloc to foreign investors. My government continues to urge NOREB counterparts to work towards a common leadership drive, commitment to broad integration policies   and investment in road connectivity. Three years ago, Eldoret was voted Kenya’s most thriving city and second best in the ease of doing business in Kenya. Since then, over 10 multi-nationals have established their regional bases in Eldoret which include Toyota Kenya who expanded their showroom, Nova group of International Schools, Alten company Limited, a one billion-shilling 40 Megawatt Solar power plant as well as Kshs. 403 billion privately owned Special Economic Zone which upon completion will attract food processors and other major players in the agricultural value chain. This in turn will create job opportunities and demand for raw materials from the county and region. A Swedish company is also planning to set up an energy generation project through a waste recycling plant in Kipkenyo ward.

Hon. Speaker,

In order to improve service delivery to our traders, the issuance of single business permits has been automated through adoption of electronic application. Payment and issuance of single business permits via transactions seen on a real time client driven self-service web portal powered by the revenue collection and management system (UG Pay) put in place. This automation uses cashless payments that includes but not limited to MPESA, Bank deposits that have been integrated with UG-pay where clients are now able to register, apply for business permits, receive invoices upon validation of their businesses, pay electronically via M-pesa and finally receive their business permits seamlessly. Following such innovations, I wish to report that the total collections in the Trade Department revenue streams in the last financial year was the highest in the history of devolution. The Department collected a total of over Ksh 320 million out of a target of a total target of 302 million (this is 105% of the target).

Hon. Speaker,

In order to ensure consumer protection, the Department has calibrated 100% of the weigh bridges and underground tanks, weighing and Measuring equipment and prohibition of unfair trade of goods and services. Betting control section is mandated to control and License Betting and gaming premises and the activities carried therein, authorization of Lotteries and prize competitions as well as eradication of illegal gambling. The Department also developed a markets policy which was approved by the cabinet and implemented in the course of the financial year 2021/2022. According to a study carried out jointly by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Moi University in April 2020, it was reported that the Covid-19 pandemic caused complete closure of 9% of businesses in Uasin Gishu County. Another 30% operated at half capacity while the rest operated at 25%. The worst hit sectors were hospitality and transport, followed by manufacturing, construction, real estate and ICT.

Hon. Speaker,

In spite of these milestones, we still have a challenge in terms of passage of legislations. A case in point is the Trade and Markets bill which was submitted in 2014 and is yet to be passed by the assembly. I therefore call upon this honourable house to proactively process the passing of bill in order for the department to operationalize. The Department anticipates that this financial year will perform better than the last financial year in terms of revenue collection and development of market infrastructure.

DEPARTMENT OF ICT AND E-GOVERNMENT

Hon. Speaker,

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a key enabler in allowing Governments to improve service delivery, reduce the cost of service delivery and increase access of Government services by citizens through enhanced ICT systems. The department has continually strived to facilitate Government automated functions and prioritized extension of its services for ease of access by the public and staff. In order to ease information access, the Department has developed various access platforms and continues to increase connectivity to County Government Offices including the satellite offices. Because of this, there has been need for modern, more robust and flexible system which diversifies ways of revenue collection to address some of the key impediments to revenue collection including travelling long distances to the county headquarters to pay rates.

Hon. Speaker,

The Department has enhanced the automation of revenue collection through UG-Pay System by increasing its integration to allow Citizens make convenient and efficient payments for County services such as payment for parking, Land Rates and Single Business Permits (SBP’s) among other revenue streams. Investments on revenue collection has seen tremendous growth of the revenue base which stands currently over Kshs. 1 billion. The system is supported by underlying infrastructure and resources that includes the County Data Centre, network connectivity and supporting ICT workforce.

To enhance transparency and reduction in paperwork due to manual application by for pre-qualification, the department has developed a supplier prequalification portal that suppliers can upload their profile and be prequalified online. The Department envisions having more applications to be developed in-house to cover information needs for County’s departments. Furthermore, and in its endeavours to disseminate information, the County Implemented the second County Double- sided LED Outdoor screen, which enhances public information dissemination and for advertisement purposes which has also created an opportunity for the business community and other stakeholders to be able to advertise through it. 

Hon. Speaker,

In order to improve the security of County resources and equipment, the Department has extended the surveillance and security monitoring using CCTV technology in various Government installations. Cumulatively a total of 136 CCTV surveillance Cameras have been installed at the County Headquarters, satellite offices, markets, and motor vehicle yard. This has tremendously assisted in securing Government installations and provide support pieces of evidence. More critical areas have been marked for additional security surveillance cameras to be installed. Under our Digital Mashinani program for training and providing County services at the Sub County/ward level, six (6) ICT Centres have been established; Kapnasu, Nukiat, Kapteldet, Waunifer, Turbo and Kenya National Library ICT (Kuinet/Kapsuswa) and two (2) additional innovation centers are currently being established to support access to ICT services and training at community levels. Establishments of such centres have allowed our youths and the general public to access ICT services including access to government services.

Hon. Speaker,

To facilitate access to ICT services for people living with disabilities, the County has set aside workstations at our Eldoret Library ICT centre to be utilized by the group. The impact of Digital mashinani programme has facilitated online learning, online jobs for economic empowerment of our youths and access to government services. To encourage innovations, the centres are currently being transformed to allow for space and resources to facilitate the development and research of innovations at the community level. Today, 20 to 30 youth per day per center access ICT services during peak seasons especially when stude