President William Ruto examining beaded items during Murang'a Investors Conference./ALICE WAITHERAThe national government will establish a manufacturing plant that will reduce importation of pharmaceutical commodities in the country.
The facility will be established in Murang'a County on the
1,300 acres of land ceded by Delmonte land buying company along the busy
Thika-Kenol highway.
President William Ruto made the announcement at the Murang'a
County Investment Conference attended by thousands of local and international
investors.
He said the facility will save the government about Sh150
billion used in the importation of drugs and pharmaceuticals annually.
According to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), the
country imports about 62 percent of pharmaceuticals, while the rest are produced
locally.
"I want to proudly say that we have identified Murang'a
Special Economic Zone as a pharmaceuticals manufacturing hub."
"I am confident that Kenya's economic future lies in
empowering our counties to become vibrant hubs of production, innovation, and
enterprise. Murang'a is ready. Counties are ready," he said.
He lauded Murang'a county for leading the way in encouraging
value addition saying the state has already disbursed Sh230 million to support
the County Aggregation and Industrial Park that is established in partnership
with the county government.
The President also expressed concerns that only 283,000
residents, a paltry 27 percent, have registered under the Social Health Authority
(SHA) out of 1.2 million residents.
This places the county at the 35th positional
nationally with the President saying a team from the authority will be
dispatched to the county to create awareness.
“My intention is that no citizen will have to sell their property to pay health bills. It’s possible to have a health infrastructure that supports everyone,” he said, adding that government has invested heavily in elevating the health infrastructure to enhance health services.
