West Pokot County adopts new marketing slogan

‘The Land of hidden treasure’ will be the new marketing slogan for the County. [Courtesy].

West Pokot County now adopts a new slogan – ‘The Land of hidden treasure’ as it seeks to position itself in marketing the high potentials of the region to local and external investors. 

The County government, in its Resources Mobilization Strategy (RMS), came up with the slogan to enhance exploitation of opportunities existing in the vast region to transform its economy. 

Neighbouring counties including Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu and Nandi adopted slogans that have ideally marketed the region to potential investors. 

Elgeyo Marakwet is best known by the slogan ‘Home of Champions’, Uasin Gishu – ‘City of Champions’, while Nandi adopted ‘Source of Champions’ to market their potentials. 

West Pokot is endowed with beautiful sceneries and idyllic attractions, which may not be popular as other parts of the Great Rift Valley but it has copious attractions for adventure seekers to explore. The opportunities makes the region an ideal destination for tourism. 

Despite all the beauty and hidden treasures that the county possess, it has never had a county slogan to market itself and attract investors. 

Governor John Lonyangapuo urged his County Executive Committee (CEC) members to be committed through professionalism to ensuring the image of the county is maintained. 

“As your governor, I want to humbly request you to deliver your skills to the people of West Pokot if you want to change. We have the advantage of bringing investors here if we can really manage to preserve properly our potential opportunities and resources,” said Professor Lonyangapuo. 

He noted that the county is endowed with elephants, the biggest herd in Africa, that are present in Nasokot game reserve and also other endangered species of animals in local forests. 

The CEC for Culture and Tourism Mrs Emily Chepoisho cited that the impression in peoples’ minds that depicts West Pokot County as insecure scares away investors despite the area having beautiful sceneries and potential business opportunities that are yet to be exploited. 

She further noted that the scenic landscape in the region are ideal for hiking and with Nasolot National reserve with the largest herd of elephants in the country that roam the park presents the area as best for visitors. 

According to some local residents, Nasolot Hill is one of the main attraction features in the area, from where one can view wildlife in the reserve, In addition to game viewing, visitors can also enjoy bird watching expeditions, guided nature walks and camping safaris.

They however regret that despite the attractiveness and opportunities that the reserve holds, they are still poor since they have not been fully exploited. 

They plead to investors to visit the area and establish cottages, hotels and other facilities that will also provide employment opportunities now that the culture of cattle rustling has been abandoned. 

“Insecurity contributes to underdevelopment; many people have shied away from visiting the park because at the back of their minds, they think they will be confronted by bandits. I plead to potential business people to invest in this county,” Said Joseph Lokor one of the locals. 

Other potential sites of attraction in the region include Mount Mtelo in Sekerr ward, Turkwel power station, which was constructed between 1986 and 1991. 

“All the beauty of Turkwel gorge had been brought down due to insecurity but over the past two years, the region has experienced sustainable peace and we urge investors or the Kengen Company to come back and renovate the facility to generate income and provide employment to some of us,” he said. 

Elizabeth Wangeci, the Pokot County Resource Mobilization Director said the county government had ensured teamwork among all including those who served in the former regime to ensure economic transformation.