- It’s amazing that Kenya is number one in dairy farming in Africa, with Egypt coming second.
- This is because within a year, our dairy exports have grown from 1.54 million kilogrammes, to 18.69 million kg.
Image: WILLIAM INGANGA
Dear reader,
This is the second article in the New Year 2024. Things are moving very fast! We are already in mid-January, and soon, we shall be reflecting on the very resolutions that we have set for ourselves for the New Year.
There is a new roadshow in town, not the one we are used of. It is a caravan of Ministers, Principal Secretaries, CEOs of state agencies, and other senior government officials, going to all 22 ministries, 54 state departments and close to 350 state agencies to carry out a self-audit on what the Kenya Kwanza government is doing to improve the lives of Kenyans through service delivery and policy implementation.
This will culminate in a report that shall be presented to the annual retreat of the National Executive in some few weeks. Despite the many challenges the country continues to face, the government is doing a lot to address them especially those affecting youth, vulnerable groups and farmers.
Within the last 16 months, the government has been able to increase the number of recipients of monthly money (cash transfer) to orphans, older persons, and people with disabilities. Under the Inua Jamii programme, they have increased from 1.2 million to 1.9 million households. That translates to more than 700,000 new beneficiaries, an increase of 63 percent. This money is going down to the bottom of our society to help the most vulnerable amongst us by stimulating the local economy.
In addition, more than 2,500 nurses are going to be employed in Saudi Arabia in the bilateral agreement for labour export for our youth by the government. The country actually needs more than 350,000 people work there, hence, more potential for Kenyans to find work there. Further, Israel needs more than 30,000 workers and already 100 youth from the National Youth Service have gotten this opportunity, as a pilot project between the two countries. There also exist similar opportunities for nurses, in the UK, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait.
As promised in The Plan, which has now translated to the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda, the government has been able to increase our saving culture as a nation through the increase of the monies collected by the National Social Security Fund from 1.4 billion to more 6.5 billion. This is more than what has been collected by the same fund cumulatively since Independence. The lives of our senior citizens will thus be potentially more secure from these resources.
Our youth are a great resource, but they lack opportunities for self–development. The government has established NYOTA, a Sh20 billion youth programme that will benefit more than 1.3 million youth in areas such as entrepreneurship through skills development, and the provision of start-up capital. In addition, more than one million youth will be recruited to form the Green Army to help achieve climate action, by planting trees across the country.
Moreover, Kenya has secured the bid to host the African Cup of Nations in 2027, and in this regard, the government is building 10 stadia, with four of them expected to be complete by December. The country has been able to have bans on football, and aquatics lifted by FIFA and the World Aquatics body. This will translate to more opportunities for our footballers and swimmers.
It’s amazing how the registration of our farmers has grown from only 20,000 to more than 6.4 million in the last 16 months. This has enabled the government to distribute more than 2.3 million bags of subsidised fertiliser to 560,000 farmers, a move that has increased maize production from the initial 40 million bags to the current 61 million. As a result, the cost of unga has dropped from a high of Sh240 to less than Sh130, thus helping to reduce the cost of living.
The government is also buying one million bags of maize at Sh4,000 per bag, thus helping farmers to make more money. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture is in the process of recruiting 1,450 Agriculture Advisory (extension) officers in each ward across the country, to help farmers get more accurate information to increase production and ensure food security. To ensure ease of access to farming implements, the current number of government food stores is being increased to at least one per ward in the next three years.
It’s amazing that Kenya is number one in dairy farming in Africa, with Egypt coming second. This is because within a year, our dairy exports have grown from 1.54 million kilogrammes, to 18.69 million kg, translating to more income and job opportunities.
It is also refreshing that Kenya received the highest funding in Africa for start-up capital in 2023, i.e. $800 million (Sh124 billion), followed again by Egypt at $640M (Sh99.2 billion), and South Africa at $600M (Sh93 billion). This means that our country ranks highly in terms of ease doing business in Africa.
The entire above bottom-up statistics demonstrate that the KK government is working very hard to restore our economy so that we reduce the cost of living towards a more sustainable future for all Kenyans.
It’s just a matter of time!
The writer is the government spokesperson