Kirinyaga setting pace for visionary leadership among counties

Youth engaging in civil works in Kerugoya town, Kirinyaga County.

Kirinyaga County has commissioned the development of the first ever sub-national sessional paper titled the Mountain Cities Blueprint 2032.

The vision document aims to dignify and transform the lives of county residents through reforms, investment, agricultural value addition, infrastructure and urban planning.

Some of the development boosts to be expected from a sessional paper include health care reform, trade and tourism, and youth and women empowerment.

Borrowing from key national documents such as the Kenya Vision 2030 and the National Youth Empowerment Strategic Plan 2016-2021, Kirinyaga is notably determined, for instance, to ensure malaise surrounding the youth employment radically reduced by working towards incorporation of youth in development projects.

So far there have been ongoing urban planning reforms with over 1000 skilled youth being contracted into several county projects including road works, hospital expansions, civil works and markets’ rehabilitation. In Gichugu sub-county, for example, the county is in the process of upgrading the locally renowned market of Kiamutugu while also constructing Mururi-Mburi road and a new maternity ward at South Ngariama.

The same is being replicated through other projects such as the Kerugoya General Hospital upgrading which is almost complete, murraming of the Kagumo-Karatina road, the ongoing Kerugoya civil works, the construction of Kagio market inclusive of cabro parking, among many others. Overall, sustainable and equitable job and enterprise creation will form a huge part in uplifting the socio-economic dignity of the people of Kirinyaga.

Speaking to The Standard, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said, “Vision is what drives development in any part of the world. Even the bible says that where there is no vision the people perish. We want to ensure that everything we do for the people of Kirinyaga today is sustainable for generations to come. We will not partake in shortcuts or quick fixes for our people.”