admin_county June 23, 2020

Governor Lee assents 4 Bills in Trade and Tourism Sector

By Reitz Mureithi
Trade and Tourism sector in Nakuru County today hit a milestone after Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui assented four bills into law.

The aim of the new acts is to provide a legal framework for the County Government to work with the private sector as well as boost the SMEs and Cooperatives across the County.

While signing the bills into law, Governor Kinyanjui said the Trade act will inform regulations and help the County form a framework that will enable partnership with the private sector.

The Governor noted that the Tourism and Marketing act will create guidelines for the County to market Nakuru as a tourism destination.

“Nakuru has the potential to be the best tourism destination in Kenya. This can be achieved with the implementation of this act,” he said.

In regard to the Ksh 3 billion set aside for the hospitality industry, as part of the economic stimulus announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the County boss said a letter had been written to the Ministry of Tourism to ask for a fair share as Nakuru County.

The other two acts namely, the Enterprise fund and the Cooperative Revolving Fund will enable both SMEs and Cooperatives to grow into big businesses in the future.

“We are working to ensure SMEs grow and transit from informal businesses to cooperate engagements. My administration is in talks with the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development to see how money from the National Government can be injected into our businesses, as a sure way of getting the county’s economy back on track,” he noted.

In his remarks, Nakuru County’s Trade and Tourism CEC Mr. Raymond Komen noted that the process began in 2018 owing to the void in the regulation of the Trade and Tourism sector.

“The signing of this bill today will allow the County to work with the players in this sector and hence transform it,” Mr. Komen said.

He added that in particular, the cooperative fund act and the enterprise fund act will provide affordable loans to SMEs and cooperatives hence facilitating their growth.

According to the Chairperson of Nakuru Tourism Association Mr. David Mwangi, Nakuru County has 1,541 restaurants and bars with approximately 33,000 people working in these establishments.

With the challenges that this sector has faced in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Mwangi said the marketing of tourism sites is the solution to revive the tourism sector.

“We must look at rehabilitating employment and marketing the County to pull tourists back to Nakuru,” he added.