The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has collaborated with the Senate to convene the 6th Speaker’s Roundtable, aimed at enhancing the business environment in counties while also focusing on employment generation.
This strategic partnership seeks to foster dialogue and cooperation between the private sector and legislative bodies to address challenges and implement policies conducive to business growth and employment at the county level.
Speaking at Pride Inn Paradise Resort, Shanzu, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Amason Kingi, said that the partnership between the Senate and KEPSA has remained on a transformative trajectory, enabling us to constructively strategize on how to propel devolution forward.
He highlighted that this has been facilitated by KEPSA’s strategic focus, framed around three main objectives: ensuring a country remains globally competitive in doing business by conducting high-level advocacy, facilitating the private sector in Kenya through various mechanisms to promote economic growth, and developing and capacity-building businesses through membership organisations to strengthen them to grow and represent the sectors adequately.
The 2-day forum themed ‘Strengthening the role of the Senate in improving the county business environment and competitiveness for the creation of wealth, jobs, and inclusive prosperity in Kenya’ aims to boost county economic competitiveness for deeper economic transformation and inclusive prosperity.
Mombasa County Senator Faki Mwinyihaji reiterated that the need for a supportive institutional and regulated framework for business remains critical in addressing the current social and economic challenges of unemployment and the high cost of living.
Furthermore, Faki noted that Mombasa County has identified pivotal areas of investment and collaboration, including tourism, leveraging on cultural heritage, the health sector, waste management, manufacturing, and the blue economy.
In addition, he urged senators to take advantage of the expertise of industry leaders in the forum to gauge the investment temperature in their counties and create impactful networks in terms of private sector players to identify opportunities for business during the two-day engagement.
The Speakers’ roundtable with the Senate is a forum where the private sector engages the parliament, especially the Senate, being the vanguard of devolution, to inform law formulation and ensure laws consider private sector business environment concerns.
KEPSA uses this forum to track pending bills and works with the relevant committees to expedite bills that promote investments.
KEPSA Board Chairman, Jaswinder Bedi noted that there is no competitive disadvantage in Kenya for raw materials, which constitute 60 per cent of every value chain.
However, he added that Kenya needs to work on the remaining 40 per cent of the competitive disadvantage, including the cost of productivity, the cost of utilities, the corridors from the ports of Mombasa and Lamu about transporting cargo, and the cost and tender of finance, citing the issue with the private sector demanding cash.
By Nuru Soud
