Wycliffe Oparanya: My target is 24-hour economy

Kakamega County has been described as a sleeping giant. The region is well-endowed with natural resources, rich agricultural soils and abundant and energetic labour. However, this potential is yet to be harnessed to improve livelihoods in what should be one of Kenya’s richest counties. Governor Wycliffe Oparanya wakes up early. He was in his office at 6.15a.m. for this interview.

“We hold our Cabinet meetings at 7a.m. We have a duty to serve wananchi and implement our agenda to ensure devolution benefits the people,” he said.

The former Planning minister told us he is confident the giant county has woken up and will not sleep. 

Q: What was the justification for the proposal to tax chicken, which triggered protests?

A: There was no such taxation. That was a ploy by the national government to project the county governments in bad light. In any case, it is impossible to enforce such a tax. I am an elected leader and I must take care of the electorate.  The county assembly, which passes laws is also elected and visionary. We won’t be foolish to pass laws that hurt our people.

Q: What is the status of devolution a year after the election of county governments?

A: We can say that we have worked effectively for eight months. There were no funds until September. But devolution has brought great changes to the county. People can feel the impact. But we have faced enormous challenges especially bloated staff that we inherited from local authorities.

Most of them were not working; we needed to change their work ethics and attitude. Most of them had the mali ya umma attitude. Then there were huge expectations from the public. Some people thought that with devolution they would get jobs for which they were not qualified and that devolution will immediately change their lives in terms of development.

Q: How have you dealt with concerns about the competence of former council staff and the issue about ghost workers?

A: We have a very competent Public Service Board which knows their mandate. They did organisational structure, a head count and rationalisation of staff. We realised that we had 200 members of staff we didn’t require.  The national government worsened the situation when it brought in staff. Our audit has revealed that we have 421 ghost workers. So we stopped their salaries.

But what is shocking is that the national government is insisting that we pay the salaries from July to date and we have refused. Why should we pay salaries for people who don’t exist? What I find more ridiculous is a demand by the national government that we pay the ghost workers or the money will be deducted from our allocation.

Q: Senator Boni Khalwale and you do not have a good working relationship; what is the bone of contention?

A: People contested positions without knowing what was in it for them. Now they are saying the governors have more powers and flags. The ideal situation is that my senator should be the voice of the county at national level as well as support me in engaging the national government where necessary because he is Nairobi.

Now instead of protecting me, he wants to make me fail. I have proposed that the county leadership should meet every two weeks so that the senator has an avenue of engaging the county assembly. I am asking him to work with other leaders and stop spreading rumours and engaging us through funerals.

Q: How has your experience as Planning minister, the driver of Vision 2030, been an advantage?

A: I knew generally where they county was going, especially from the first Medium Term Plan of Vision 2030 which I helped develop as minister. But there were scant statistics in the county to inform decision making and know which areas are critical.

Agriculture is our mainstay, but we did not have data. It is difficult to plan without such statistics.

Q: So how did you move forward in the absence of data?

A: I formed task forces for key sectors such as livestock farming, sugar, horticulture, education and urban centres. They came up with very useful, detailed reports which we used to update our County Integrated Development Plan for 2014-2015.

For instance, due to the plan, we have allocated Sh400 million for the opening up of one key road per constituency.

Q: Talking of data, how does your development plan address poverty in the county?

A: The resources allocated are inadequate to lift communities out of poverty. We must focus on areas that can generate quality revenue. The national government has not engaged in any development here for 50 years. We are starting from scratch. Of the of hundreds of kilometres of road in the county, only 218km are tarmacked.

Q: So what are the opportunities for generating new revenue?

A: It is certainly not from taxing mama mboga or chicken as you guys reported. We can generate quality revenue from tourism, tea and maize farming as well as improved infrastructure for trade.
We have the only tropical forest in the region, which can utilised to generate revenue from tourism. I also believe that we should be able to make money from tea farming in places such as Shinyalu, Khwisero and Ikolomani.

We grow a lot maize in Lugari region, but we must add value. We want to set up a milling plant in the area to produce animal feed. To grow, we must work on our infrastructure and modernise our trade. My target is to increase revenue collection from the current Sh300 million to Sh3 billion in the next three years. That is why I want institutions such as Mumias Sugar Company to survive. I can collect Sh1 billion from the sugar sector alone.

Q: What ground have you covered on development of agriculture?

A: We have come up with a project to give a cow to every household. We are starting with 360 households. We have dedicated Sh28 million for the exercise this financial year. With this, we will not only improve nutrition but also alleviate poverty. We will also give 20 cows to every sub-county through a loan programme. On horticulture, we have set up 30 greenhouses and want to increase them to 60. Each ward will have a demonstration centre for farmers.

Q: Sugarcane farming has impoverished many households in this county. Do you agree with suggestions that it should be abandoned?

A: The model used by Mumias sugar is not correct. The miller ploughs, harrows, weeds, harvests, transports and weighs the cane for the farmer. The farmer is helpless. He cannot control the cost of production. The biggest problem is that miller has taken up cane development and loaded all costs on the farmers. The farmer has no control, no rights. We want to separate the farmer from the miller. And this can only happen if the farmer is empowered.

Q: How are you empowering farmers?

A: We are pumping Sh200 million to an association of farmers. They will use funds from the kitty to carry out some of the activities done by millers. This way, they will be in a position to control cost and negotiate with the millers the best prices for their cane. Then the farmer will supplement cane with dairy farming and horticulture. We are confident that using this model, farmers will make some money. That is what is happening in countries such as Malaysia and even Sudan.

Q: But all this would certainly be in vain unless you address illegal sugar imports

A: We have formed an association of sugar-producing counties to lobby the national government. The excuse for importation is that we are not producing enough for national consumption. We want to boost efficiency within the sugar sector and set up proper management systems to ensure that we produce enough sugar and work with the national government to fight illegal imports. But first, we must demonstrate that we can produce enough.

Q: But there is this accusation that the problem with the sugar sector is interference from politicians

A: Mumias is a private company. The government only owns a 20 per cent stake. They can choose to have a relationship with politicians from the cane-producing areas. But the organisational structure is abnormal. The company has more managers than ordinary workers. This comes with costs and inefficiencies.

Q: Besides agriculture and roads, what is are the challenges in the healthcare sector?

A: Healthcare services were in a poor state. There was only one operating ambulance. We have bought ambulances from the Red Cross. My government is improving 162 health centres. I have hired an expert to go round and find out the gaps in these facilities so that we fill them.

For instance, it was established that the county general hospital could not be improved in its current status. It was a military camp built in 1972.  We are setting up a completely new facility for Sh400 million, a teaching and referral hospital in partnership with Masinde Muliro University.

We have provided Sh50 million seed money. My government also intends to establish a specialised hospital for children. Two months ago, we distributed drugs worth Sh170 million to hospitals and are expecting a second order of Sh120 million

Q: There has been an exodus of doctors from this region. Who will work in the hospitals you are building?

A: We have a problem with the shortage of doctors. It is a challenge across the country. We have 38 against a required 70. We have advertised for the posts, but I am told only seven have applied. I have a health think tank to help identify issues such as the dominant diseases so that our strategies can respond efficiently.

Q: What five things do you want to achieve by the end of your term?

A: Reduce poverty levels from 60 per cent to 40 per cent, have 300km of tarmac road and improve education. I am concerned that the county had 62 As in KCSE exams yet Kapsabet Boys alone produced more than 100. I want at least 300 As in a year. I also want every citizen to access healthcare and build a secure, thriving 24-hour economy.

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