Let's leverage on our comparative advantage to develop

To elaborate this further, Meru County had a population of 987,653 persons, Tharaka Nithi had a population of 393,177, Embu county had a population of 608,599; Kitui county had 1,136,187 and Machakos county had 1,421,932 persons according to the KPHC, 2019. At the same time, these counties have a total land area of 48,962.1 km² out of 582,646 km² of the Kenyan land mass, which represents 8.4 percent of the total land mass of Kenya. Kitui has the largest area mass of the five counties at 30,520, followed by Meru which has at total area of 7,006 km², Machakos at 5,953km², followed by Embu at 2,821 km² and Tharaka Nithi has a total area of 2,662.1 km². 

These five counties and Kenya from the counties’ perspective can be transformed and become the Singapore of Kenya, because Singapore is a city state in the Malay peninsula that is 728.6km², with 5 million people, meaning, we can have 67.2 "Singapores" from these five Counties. 

In terms of the Kenyan Gross Domestic Product in US Dollars, it was US$ 265 and the Singapore one was US$ 599 billion! In 2022. The comparison here is to show how a small city state of 728.6km² has a GDP of twice the size of Kenya. 

The first argument for these counties is to ensure that they use their population as one of the greatest resources that they have to propel them to highly developed status. This calls for greater engagement of all elected and appointed leaders, professionals, business leaders and religious leaders should be the mantra for the governors and other leaders. This is because it will further the ideals of devolution and advance the notion that everyone has something to offer in county and national development. This can be done through forums that are attended by all these demographics with the logistics being agreed upon beforehand. These categories must also ensure adequate representation of youth and women, since nationally, the median age is 19.8 years and also because the two demographics will always constitute a bigger population in the five counties. In Rwanda, such forums are scheduled from the lowest possible administrative area and it has served to fast track a lot of developments in the country. 

Some of the challenges that our counties face can be easily solved by such forums and engagements and may not be that complicated as they may seem to be. 

Secondly, these counties may need to leverage on the natural resources that they have been endowed with. The counties have immense minerals, sand, ballast, forests and tourism attractions that need to be leveraged on and supported to accelerate their development. 

In addition to the national laws governing the same, the counties may need to develop local laws and policies that can support enhanced utilization for the same to drive economic development. The counties have the potential for many factories and manufacturing points arising from these minerals like iron, calcium carbonates, green and blue aquamarines, sand, ballast, red soils/rare earths among other minerals. 

Thirdly, these counties may need to tap into their agricultural potential. This is because agriculture is key to our economic national and county growth because it employs 40 percent of the total population and 70 percent of the rural population. Agriculture should be well managed such that it ensures food security then food security will attract small scale agro-processing and agri-business projects. These will enhance manufacturing and industrialization based on agriculture and hence more jobs and employment creation. 

These Mount Kenya and Lower Eastern counties are predominantly rural and as such, 70 percent of the population relies on agriculture (crop growing and livestock keeping) for their livelihoods. Most of the agricultural functions are devolved and hence a proper county function. The allocations to these counties should be used to improve the transportation facilities in the farming and livestock keeping areas to allow for efficient movement of farm and livestock inputs and also outputs to the markets. These counties should support the national agricultural and land reforms and also come up with local ones to secure land for agriculture. The counties should also encourage cooperative and contract farming so that many residents can have sustainable incomes from their trade. 

Where cooperatives existed and have been inactive, they should be revived or new ones formed. Cooperatives are the way to go for local developments as they enhance the ability to save (domestic resource mobilization) and get loans for self-development. This is because the maxim that county and national development equals the sum total of the developments of its people is true!

Fourthly, our counties should accelerate the manufacturing agenda through promotion of cottage and small industries to utilize the agricultural produce that we have the potential in. Agro-processing is the surest way to pull many people out of poverty in our counties. This will be part of the efforts to commercialize farming to attract more young people, who are the future of agriculture. The counties need to incentivize the private players and also customize and utilize Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to advance these agenda items. 

Fifth, strategic leadership is needed to turn around the fortunes of these counties.  These counties can become the Singapore of Kenya through sound and strategic leadership from MCAs, MPs, to Governor, other senior appointed leaders, professionals, business people and religious leaders working together. Singapore's success is attributed to its strong government leadership and commitment to good governance as exhibited by the country's founding father and first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Lagos state in Nigeria under governor Tinubu, who has now been elected president of Nigeria was able to undertake massive development including greater private sector in developing Lagos. These counties can excel and accelerate the national socio-economic advancement of the region and the country at large.