State Department for Maritime and Shipping Principal Secretary (PS) Geoffrey Kaituko is calling for concerted efforts between the government, development partners, and investors to increase investments to reinvigorate the Blue Economy sector.
Blue Economy, a new economic frontier and a sleeping giant with the potential to create thousands of jobs, largely remains untapped.
According to the National Treasury, the sector has a share of 2.5 per of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and it contributes Sh178 billion to the economy annually but has the potential to generate Sh500 billion yearly.
Speaking at the Blue Economy Innovation and Investment Summit in Mombasa themed “Building an inclusive Blue Future” organised by Sote Hub, PS Kaituko noted that the sector has about 18 sub-sectors and “We in Kenya are barely scratching the surface.”.
The country, he said, should be generating 20 times what it is currently generating through the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA).
“We open up our registry and also if we become a very serious flagged state. The other area is, of course, ship recycling and shipbuilding,” stated the PS.
Shipbuilding, he added, creates a lot of jobs; for instance, recently a local company got a tender to build a vessel for Uganda, and it created 400 jobs for the country.
He stressed the need for the country to invest in the maritime transport sector as it loses about Sh600 billion because “we are not in the shipping business both internationally and locally.”
More resources PS Kaituko said should be channelled into the Blue Economy as it is a capital-intensive sector and taxpayers should be ready to put more money into the sector, increase support infrastructure, capacity build, and human resource development.
“We can easily become a very important seafaring nation. There was a time when Kenya had the golden age of seafaring,” stated the PS.
The government he noted is supporting maritime institutions to take the country to its glory times.
“As a country, there is so much that we can tap into. Ghana has a shorter coastline, but the Ghanaian Maritime Authority generates ten times what we generate here through the merchant levy that KMA gets from the ships,” revealed the PS.
KMA, as a regulator, he added, has all the instruments and regulations to give them strength to implement some of the things they were not able to achieve.
“In fact,” he said, “the weakest in the maritime sector is KMA in the enforcement area. If KMA can be able to enforce some of the regulations that we have—the KMA Act, 2006, and the Merchant Shipping Act, 2009—then we will be able to realise the potential.”
He noted that a sector is as strong as the regulator, and the government is keen to ensure KMA becomes a strong regulator in the maritime industry.
He thanked the European Union (EU) for their support in the Sh3.2 billion Go Blue Project. Urging County Governments to build on the foundation of the project
EU Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger said they have been underlying the importance of the Blue Economy and Blue Space not only in Kenya but all over Africa.
She noted that many African countries are still living “with the back to the sea, and Kenya is not exceptional” She challenged the country to exploit the enormous potential and opportunities in the Blue Economy.
The EU, she said, helps the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy, and Maritime Affairs to develop its Blue Economy and maritime strategies and projects.
The EU successfully implemented a Blue Economy programme to the tune of Sh3.2 billion.
“We tried to combine the Blue and the Green because land and sea need to be seen together in an integrated way. Too often, we have talked about greening the economy and forget about the Blue,” stated the EU Ambassador.
She encourages County governments to sustain the projects initiated by the programme. “There is no programme or project that lasts forever,” she said, urging the beneficiaries to build on the successes.
On the sidelines of the summit, the EU handed over to KMA five search and rescue boats to bolster surveillance in the country’s territorial waters.
The EU support, she said, is insufficient, urging the National Government and County Governments to create a conducive environment to attract investments. The conferences, she noted, are important and will build momentum in attracting investors in the Blue Economy Sector.
By Sadik Hassan
