• Those who failed to enlist will be compelled to look for chiefs.
• County had a target of more than 1.2 million.
More than one million people in Kisii registered for Huduma Namba in the 53-day period given by the government.
County commissioner Godfrey Kigochi on Saturday said the number is impressive even though they did not attain the target of more than 1.2 million.
He urged those who did not register during the mass drive to visit their area chiefs’ officers and get listed.
The commissioner spoke at Gusii Stadium diring Madaraka Day ceremony.
Governor James Ongwae, who was to lead the celebration, joined President Uhuru Kenyatta and other leaders in Narok. In his speech read by Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, Ongwae urged residents to turn up in large numbers during such days.
He said the county has made strides in development and it will do more.
On agriculture, the governor said he has engaged the American Embassy on the possibility of establishing a branded Kisii coffee shop in the US to expand the county’s exports.
“A three-member team from the county will travel to the US to lay the ground for our farmers to ‘cut a niche’ in the American market,” Ongwae said in his speech.
“We will soon unveil our pyrethrum revival strategy following fresh demands for this crop abroad, occasioned by the recent ban on synthetic mosquito repellants that killed investment in the crop about 16 years ago."
He disclosed that he recently held a fruitful engagement with the American government through their envoy, where they agreed on how to engage investors from the country interested in pyrethrum exports.
On banana farming, Ongwae said they have since received Sh110 million towards the construction of a banana value chain.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)