President William Ruto has challenged the manufacturing sector to be a champion of job creation in Kenya.
He said the sector is capable to create a million jobs in the manufacturing industry for Kenyans.
"You have persuaded me that it's possible for us to create one million jobs from the manufacturing sector and move the contribution of our GDP from 7pc to 20pc in 8 years," Ruto said.
Speaking during the Kenya Manufacturing 20 by 30 Initiative in Nairobi on Wednesday, the President promised to support the industry in ways possible to make it a reality.
"I promise you I will be available, my administration will be available so that we can actualise all these opportunities together," Ruto added.
However, poking holes into the sector, the President said he failed to understand why Kenya was not a champion of the textile industry despite the high number of livestock slaughtered annually.
"There is absolutely no reason why we should not a champion in the whole leather products space because we are slaughtering three million livestock every year,
"We have the third largest herd in Africa, yet we're importing Sh110 billion worth of leather products into Kenya. It completely makes no sense," Ruto argued.
Nevertheless, the President made it clear that his government has great plans for the manufacturing industry and will make them a reality in the next couple of years.
"We are very clear in what we want to do in the leather and textile space because we believe therein lies the opportunity to create jobs and wealth," he noted.
