Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties are moving to revive their South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc, known as Sekeb, with a plan to establish a regional bank that would support trade, create jobs and expand local investment.
The proposal was discussed in Kitui on 2018-11-22, during a forum that brought together business people and professionals to examine what the bloc could deliver for the region. The governors said the bank would be used to offer cheaper loans to traders and help the counties pool resources for economic growth.
Governors Charity Ngilu of Kitui, Alfred Mutua of Machakos and Kivutha Kibwana of Makueni said Sekeb had been dormant since 2016 and needed to be brought back to life. They argued that working together would allow the three counties to build wealth, attract investment and create more opportunities for residents.
Ms Ngilu said the bank would be a non-political institution meant to provide affordable credit to local people. She also said the bloc wanted to create markets for local goods, improve value addition and strengthen food security through agriculture.
“Our economic bloc will focus on addressing our unique challenges. Part of the solution include establishment of a regional bank. This is because we have continued to rely institutions that do not appreciate our unique challenges,” she said.
Dr Mutua said erratic rainfall remained one of the major problems affecting food production in the region. He called on leaders, churches and professionals to support the initiative regardless of religious or political affiliation.
“We already have all the basic factors of production - capital, labour and technology. We therefore call upon all leaders, churches and professionals to join the initiative without minding their religious and political affiliations so that together, we can find solutions to our problems. Let us speak in one voice as the Kamba community,” said Mutua.
Prof Kibwana said the counties had come together because they shared common interests and could use Sekeb to grow trade and wealth. He said the leaders would stay united on the initiatives discussed and ensure residents benefited from the region’s resources.
He added that the broader goal was to free Ukambani residents from marginalisation, poverty and dependency.
