Kitui County Investors Conference to unlock devolution potential

Kitui County Investors Conference to unlock devolution potential

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Kitui Governor Dr. Julius Malombe. Photo/ Kitui County Governor's Press. Malombe will host an investment conference this weekend Sep 25/26 at Kitui town.

This weekend Kitui County will host an investment conference at Ithookwe Showground. As a journalist covering media dynamics in Kitui today last year, I can proudly say that the county has improved. The county has really campaigned to attract investors.

At that time there was a rugby tournament going on but few media highlighted the high -octane derby that was ensuing. Only local vernacular radios broadcast the event yet it was a national issue that the national media decided to ignore.

Now because money will be coming to Kitui they will be everywhere acting out while selecting the best of their adjectives and tired journalism jargon.

Lack of Ambition

Admittedly, Kitui doesn’t make for a vibrant media fodder by any standards. The social scene is dull, the politics are on ice and the economy is small. It has watched Machakos play big brother despite having bigger population, more skilled human resource and more land. The curse of Kitui is playing second fiddle and lack of ambition.

This mediocrity must change on September 25 and 26 when Kitui County Investors Conference convenes.  Locals will be watching who will invest in several plum opportunities in coal, limestone, banking and education among others.

Recently I visited Nguni in Mwingi and limestone was piled recklessly along the Mwingi-Garissa road. Trucks ferried the mineral to elsewhere, sources say. Are the locals benefiting? Is anyone arresting the manmade environmental degradation that is likely to follow in the wake of massive mining of coal in Mui and Kyuso?

Worse still, poverty rates are high and water is rare. Governor Julius Makau Malombe should demonstrate why he should keep his job in 2017.