By Anderson Ojwang
For eons, Nyanza has held several International Investment Conferences to spur economic growth but for the last five decades, no industries have come out from such fora.
The high profile and publicized conferences have turned out to serve both political and commercial interests instead triggering any meaningful economic dispensation for the region.
Various political groupings and county governments from the region have continued to hold multimillion international investment conferences one after another and the answer and solutions have all been paper based.
If anything, the textile industry died five decades ago, and the conferences have failed to resuscitate the Cotton industry that was the backbone of Nyanza Economy.
Currently, the Kisumu Cotton Mill (KICOMI) infrastructure lie delipidated, deplorable and in a sorry state, a symbolic representation of the ailing Nyanza economic status.
Nyanza has continued the flight of industrial investments from the region to Uganda and Tanzania, which offer favorable investment climate and this explains, why Kisumu that is the economic heart of Nyanza have least industrial institutions.
If anything, with the collapse of Kicomi, Kisumu has not witnessed any construction of a manufacturing industry in the region.
Nyanza has remained more of a consumer region of goods from other regions or imported into the country.
Although the city has a young and dynamic population, the unemployment rate among young people is about 40%.
Moreover, only 18% of the city’s households own a small or a medium-sized business.
The Gross Value Added (GVA) per capita for Kisumu County is Sh. 165,456 with an average population growth of 3.38 per cent and overall poverty levels at 36.3 per cent.
The collapsed of the sugar industry worsened the grim economic situation in the region and left Nyanza in economic turmoil that the successive international conference failed to breath a new lease of life into.
The agricultural sector witnessed no meaningful investment while the fish sector, from the second world freshwater lake, is yet to have a fish processing factory in the region despite successive high profiled international conferences that have been held to attract investors into the region.
Respected Economist Dr Ochola Ogonda said there can never be development and growth without manufacturing industries and that is what Nyanza has lacked for decades.
”These conferences are not doing what will help Nyanza, Kenya and Africa achieve its economic objectives.
Ask yourself, are we exhibiting our locally produced goods or imported and final finished products? How is this going to spur our economic growth?
For us to witness development, we must exploit the abundant wealth and stop being an assembly package.
Nyanza has vast wealth in terms of minerals, fish, agriculture, human resource and yet we are yet to exploit these opportunities.
This is why we must have a different approach and make Nyanza and Kenya industrialized.
Why can’t Nyanza produce cloths, yet it has huge potential for cotton production, and why must we rely on second hands cloths?” said Dr Ogonda, former Director of United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa, one of the founder members of Preferential Trade Area- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Dr Ogonda, who is also the Author of the book titled Minerals in African Under Development and Leadership and Economic crisis in Africa, said it was time to decolonize the mind and stop being in slavery but to become industrialized to become economically independent.
“I stopped attending the regional international conferences, because they are money making agenda outfits and has produced nothing in terms of development on the table. It is a waste of time. We know what we need, and we have the resources. Let us go manufacturing,” he said.
A resident Mr. Wilberforce Otieno said the conferences should prioritizes mindset change and sustainability.
“Not being around to attend, my biggest contribution would to be to urge both the conveners and attendees to target and prioritize the very foundation without which no amount of investment interventions, promotions, and congregations will yield any meaningful effect: That is MINDSET CHANGE and SUSTAINABILITY.
Our people must be made to urgently recognize that only production, value addition, industry, resilience, and sustainability will guarantee a better future, beginning NOW.
Production means that we must migrate from a mindset of dependency, consumption and benevolence to one which prioritizes earning something of value out of what we have, be it Soil, stones, sand, grass, water, skills, talents, energy and abilities.
Any income at the end of the day brings self-sufficiency closer home and with the ability to save, investment and wealth creation becomes possible and easy.
Value addition means that whatever we have earmarked to produce, be it music, must capture the needs, wants, and aspirations of the end users in the most attractive, customer friendly and environmentally acceptable standard for the posterity and prosperity of the present and future generations.
Sustainability means that our people must be inspired and empowered to embrace and own investment wisdom, and consciously work to be part and parcel of the process, in a way that is sustainable and doesn’t displace the locals from the very investment progress they have been dreaming of, as they recede backwards to poverty in the opposite direction,” he said
Deputy Chief of Staff, in charge Performance Contracting Mr. Eliud Owalo observed that 61 years after independence, 40% of the population in Nyanza lives in abject poverty
Owalo who spoke during the just concluded Nyanza International Investment Conference said the region’s economic contribution paints a grim picture.
“Nyanza counties contribute just 9.3% to Kenya’s manufacturing sector compared to Nairobi County which accounts for 27.5% contribution to GDP.
On average in the 6 counties of Nyanza, agriculture is at 2.3% compared to other areas whose contribution is 7.6%.
These numbers are more than statistics – they represent lives, they represent potential untapped, and they represent a future delayed.
Nyanza has the highest under-5 mortality rate in the country – 54 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to the national average of 41 deaths per 1,000 live births.
According to the Demographic and Health Survey Report 2022, Migori had the highest, 73 deaths per 1,000 live births, Siaya 63 deaths and Homa Bay 61 deaths,” he said.
He said the health infrastructure in Nyanza were inadequate in comparison to Kiambu County which boasts of 13 level 4 hospitals, while the entire six counties of Nyanza have just five.
“Water access is another glaring challenge in Nyanza While 22.7% of households in Nairobi have piped water to the main house, in Nyamira and Kisii, it is a mere 0.9% and 1.01%, respectively.
Lake Victoria is an underutilized resource that could revolutionize the region’s economy. The lake should be a lifeline.
It should be an engine for economic growth. It should be our pride. With 14 million people in the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) dependent on the lake for their livelihoods, we cannot afford to continue this disservice to ourselves,” he said.
Owalo said by modernizing processing plants, improving quality control, and expanding value-added products, the region can tap into global markets, contributing to economic growth and sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
“For decades, our fate has been dictated by the politics of the day. Our fortunes have risen and fallen at the whim of political shifts and turns, instead of being built on the solid foundation of economic progress driven by solid investments on the ground.
Our story does not have to continue like this.
The prosperity of Nyanza must be defined by economics and not only politics.
Whereas the National Policy Narrative has been that resources follow functions, the reality has previously been that resources follow voting patterns,” he said.
