EDITORIAL: Counties should seek new revenue streams

Even as the devolved units seek out avenues of growing the economies of their respective jurisdictions, some have come to learn that the only way to prosper is by being proactive in tapping new revenue streams.

When the devolved system of governance was rolled out after the 2013 General Election, some of the 47 county governments hit the ground running with innovative pursuits of growing their revenue while others merely sat back and waited for their slice of the pie from the national government’s coffers.

This, as many Kenyans noted, separated the proactive units from those that appeared dormant or reluctant to improve the welfare of their residents.

When Kenyans voted for the devolved system of governance, their main goal was to end the many years of marginalisation that had seen some areas left out of the government’s development agenda.

It is therefore refreshing to see some counties stepping out to woo investors into their backyards. For example, Wajir County is now eyeing three percent of the annual Sh279.7 billion remittances from Kenyans living abroad for investment in multiple sectors in the region. It plans to source investments for the water and sanitation, solar, biogas production, livestock production, health, education and tourism and wildlife sectors. By pitching investment ideas to the diaspora, the county is hoping to attract funding from donors, investors and other groups. Wajir has embarked on the investment quest in a public private partnership with the Kenya Diaspora Alliance.

The county leadership has cited the region’s potential in solar and wind energy that can be exploited to generate energy for domestic and export. It is also rich in livestock products.

Kenya is rich in untapped potential, especially in some of the regions that were marginalised after Independence.

We aver that the country has a lot to offer hence the need for both the national and county governments to work together in opening up the rural areas.

Unemployment remains an endemic problem in the country. We urge county governments to borrow a leaf from the Wajir initiative by spurring the growth agenda