The fourth Circle Medium Term Planning (MTP) has been hailed as a vehicle that will actualise the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
This message was delivered by senior government officials led by Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui at Kenya School of Government Baringo during the dissemination of the MTP IV.
The leaders said that the MTP will eradicate duplication in government initiatives and reduce wastage of resources.
CS Chelugui said the National Government will work together with the County Governments to ensure smooth implementation of development programmes in the country.
“We are going to support the County government of Baringo in terms of development, especially in value chains creation in coffee and cotton,” promised the CS.
He urged the residents to start cultivating cash crops like coffee and stop their overdependence on subsistence farming.
“As I lead the campaign to raise the coffee production from 51 metric tonnes to 200 metric tonnes, I want Baringo to be part of the plans so that they can get income from crop farming,” added Chelugui.
The CS said the MTP will equalise development across the country, and no county or region will be left behind.
Chelugui confirmed that Baringo is among the counties that will benefit from the Sh100 million revitalisation of the cotton industry with the improvement of the ginning process.
He called on Baringo farmers to join the Olmarai Cooperative Society, which had been selected to operate the feedlot project in Mogotio on a pilot basis, as the government plans to roll out the programme of livestock improvement in 94 other locations in the country.
“We are calling on the farmers to register with Sh1,000 and buy shares of Sh5,000 as the feedlot is the game changer in the livestock industry, supported by 11 ministries and agencies,” said the CS.
On his part, Sports Principal Secretary Peter Tum termed sessional papers, National Development Agendas, and cabinet resolutions alongside the MTPs as tools to actualise development in the country.
Tum said the next budget will revolutionise the country, ranging from value addition in the agriculture sector to new transformations in the health sector.
He cautioned the county government against creating budgets that don’t have funds, saying working on the actuals is the new norm of the current dispensation.
He warned that any dreams that were not captured in the MTP will have to wait for the next circle in 2028, as the MTP is what will give funding to government programmes.
His health counterpart, Harry Kimtai, took the participants, which included government officials at both levels of government, members of the public, and special interest groups, on the key areas the government will concentrate on in the next five years of the budgeting circle.
He underscored the importance of participating in MTP and other budget public participation meetings, saying it is through such that the dreams and aspirations of the people will be captured and implemented by the government.
On his part, Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi implored the CS to persuade the cabinet to release monies meant for the county on time, saying delays always hinder the implementation of county budgets.
He also requested that Baringo County be considered to host a future national celebration event so that the county can benefit from facilities and infrastructure improvements.
The event culminated with the reading of the presidential speech by the CS to officially launch the dissemination of MTP VI.
By Christopher Kiprop
