The US government has chosen Kiambu as a focus county on enhancing development, citing business potential.
Governor James Nyoro on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the US government through USAID on a joint commitment to development of the county.
USAID director Mark Meassick said the MoU was under US Prosper Africa Initiative, which is a shared vision of devolution meets needs of residents.
“We have been working in Kiambu for more than three decades and since the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010, we continued to work the way we used to and now we have realised we must change our ways and embrace the power of government and recognise devolution in terms of being closer to people so that we may be able to deliver services better to the people,” Meassick said.
Meassick said the US government will work closely with Kiambu and co-create their activities to become more transparent about the budget allocation.
“We have a unique opportunity to really help advance the lives of the residents through this partnership,” the USAID official said.
He said in future, the US government will help forge linkages of people of Kiambu and businesses in the United States.
“Hopefully, we are going to strengthen those partnerships so we can advance progress and also offer business opportunities to export to the United States."
Eight counties are under the Prosper Africa Initiative with the idea of promoting trade and investment, Meassick said.
They are Isiolo, Kakamega, Kiambu, Kisii, Kisumu, Makueni, Mombasa and Nakuru.
The MoU, Meassick said, will outline what they will do in the next five years.
Nyoro said the deal was to operationalise trade agreement which was necessitated through the America Chambers of Commerce bilateral trade partnership between Kenya and the US.
President Uhuru Kenyatta opened the second edition of the Amcham Business summit 2019 in November last year.
“This collaboration is a key milestone to the county to encourage trade and investment and through this, we are going to raise our own source of revenue which will complement the funds we get from the Treasury,” the governor said.
He added that Kiambu is privileged to be the only county in Mt Kenya region to be included in the initiative.
Uhuru during the Amcham Business Summit said, “In 2018, through a working group, Kenya and the US developed a strategic partnership which gives us some privileges in trading with the US.”
Kenya exported to the USA goods valued at $661 million in 2018, up from $588 million in 2017. This ranks the USA among the top three export destinations in the world.
Edited by R.Wamochie
