The  regional director of LBDA  in charge of finance Alex  Mukabwa addressing the media during the event. Photo | John Kabaka

The Lake Basin Development Authority has organized workshops in Kakamega, Kericho and Kisumu to sensitize people in western Kenya on how to utilize the enormous resources and investment opportunities to spur economic growth to reduce endemic poverty in the region.

The first workshop in the series known as unlocking investment potential in western Kenya took place at a Kakamega hotel where over 200 people from different sectors attended.

During the workshop, facilitators and the chief guest Western region deputy provincial commissioner lower Western  Peter Okwanyo called on local people to make optimum use of the abundant local resources to alleviate poverty which has been rated by Kenya bureau  of central statistics at 61% despite the availability of fertile soils and climate.

Okwanyo blamed the poverty and low exploitation of resources in the region to low entrepreneurial culture, idleness and too much politicking.

He cautioned locals against using most of their time indulging in politics and instead use the good soils and climate to boost agricultural production to do away with poverty.

He also asked farmers and business men from the area to explore how to utilize the proximity to the larger east African community to commence business ventures soon after the completion of the great north corridor under construction.

Keninvest regional manager Laban Mburu addresses stakeholders  at the LBD forum on investment opportunities in western region

A director of the regional organization in charge of finance Alex Mukabwa who represented the chairman Mr. Dickson Katibi said that they were involved in a number of activities aimed at helping inhabitants totaling to over 41 million to improve their living standards through initiation of several projects.

He said most of the organizations’ projects were provision of water through dams on the local rivers and agriculture.

According to him the organization is currently constructing several dams through donor funds on local rivers on local rivers for hydro power generation and irrigation at a cost of Kshs 1million.

He also cited rice growing, fish farming through water ponds and poultry at Kibos in Nyanza as some of the land mark projects the organization has undertaken since its inception to spur economic growth and alleviate endemic poverty in the region.

The forum which will be followed by others in Kisumu and Kericho was addressed by different professionals who enumerated what their organizations were doing to find a solution to poverty and provide incentives for investment.

Addressing the forum Western region deputy director of Agriculture Zipporah Mugonyi urged stakeholders and the resident’s present ion utilize the Poultry, Dairy and Horticulture farming saying the sector though promising has not received any serious investor in the region.

“Poultry, dairy farming and horticulture can indeed play a big role in the country’s economy if it received an investor because we have all it takes to leave a mark in the sectors in our region, I urge investors to look into that and for sure you will never ask yourself why,” Said Mugonyi.

The Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) was established in 1979 by the Government of Kenya to spearhead development in the Lake Basin Catchment area in Western Kenya.