PS sees oil and minerals kick-starting Kenya’s economy

A government official has said the second Medium Term Plan (MTP), which runs from 2013 to 2017, targets oil and mineral sector development to kick-start the economy.

“The government wants to make Kenya Africa’s hub for oil, mineral production, logistics, trade, services and manufacturing,” said Principal Secretary for Planning Peter Mangiti.

Kenya will enact laws and policies to govern mining and put in place the requisite infrastructure for oil and gas exploitation, he said in Nairobi during the launch of the plan whose theme is Transforming Kenya: Pathway to Devolution, Socio-economic Development and National Unity.

Mr Mangiti said that the government had identified four sectors which are key to the realisation of Vision 2030 in the second MTP set to be launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 4.

The economic plan is divided into four pillars with the first one covering tourism, agriculture, trade, manufacturing, business process outsourcing and financial Services.

Social pillar

The plan will be founded on infrastructure, ICT, innovation, labour and employment, land , public sector reforms and security.

The social pillar covers education and training, health, population, urbanisation and housing, environment, water and sanitation, gender, youth and vulnerable groups while the political pillar will focus on governance, the Judiciary, rule of law and devolution.

“We want to embrace industrialisation through growing the manufacturing sector, make agriculture competitive, diversify the economy and have sustainable balance of payments,” he said.

Mr Mangiti said that the government will expand trade in the regional market and increase the ratio of both savings and investment to GDP by at least 10 percentage points in the next five years.

READ: State seeks more savings to spur growth

Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Planning Anne Waiguru said the county governments were expected to align their county integrated development plans (CIDPs) with the second medium term plan.

Ms Waiguru said that despite the country having two levels of government, all plans should be geared towards the realisation of Vision 2030.

“The ministry prepared and disseminated guidelines for preparation of CIDPs to counties for this purpose and expressed confidence that the content will be according to the plans,” said Ms Waiguru.

She said that the second MTP will be disseminated in all the 47 counties to ensure that the public is familiar with it and supports its implementation.

She said that her ministry had prioritised capacity building for county leaders to make them efficient and effective in discharging their functions.

“Through the medium-term plan, the government is determined to ensure that devolution is a success,” she said.

Ms Waiguru said that the ministry was monitoring what the social media says about devolution to help address concerns raised by Kenyans.