Ranguma on why he must work with Uhuru

They call him Jack. Kisumu is one of the more political regions in the country, and not just any Tom, Dick or Otieno can be its governor. Ranguma is a man of steel.

And he is deputised by no less a person than Ms Ruth Odinga, the sister of Cord leader Raila Odinga in a political marriage consummated by powerful forces in the Orange party in the last General Election.

The Kisumu governor started out on the wrong note with reports he was staying in a luxury hotel and driving luxury cars past the open sewers of Kondele.

In a sense, he became the ugly face of devolution and helped sustain stereotypes that people from his part of the world are hopelessly self-inflating and pathologically incapable of getting their priorities right.

Q: What is your dream for Kisumu?
A: I gave promises based on what I thought would make Kisumu grow. It has been unable to develop because it is a consumer economy. We must create a strong middle class and build an economy that produces, not consumes.

All the basic commodities here ranging from eggs, chicken, tomatoes and onions come from outside. We need a paradigm shift in order to create a producing economy. A consumer society that does not produce goods and services is as good as dead.

Q: Is there merit to the argument that the challenge of development here boils down to negative energy and the attitude of residents towards enterprise?

A: Yes. We must work on the attitude of our people. Most of them have abandoned their home regions to look for jobs in Nairobi. They cannot water a vegetable garden. A Kikuyu farmer can come here and successfully grow vegetables for sale,or rear chicken. Our people cannot do that.

Q: So how do you intend to transform Kisumu from a consuming to a producting economy?

A: First, we must produce our food by commercialising agriculture.Then, industrialisation. We have several advantages of creating industries, e.g food processing. Kisumu is the natural hub of the central African economy.

Our location gives us access to a market of 160 million people in central Africa. Today, a number of products are manufactured in Nairobi, Thika, Athi River, Mombasa and then transported to DRC. It will be cheaper to produce those products here and send them to those areas.

Technology is another critical investment. Nyanza is Kenya’s intellectual hub. The challenge is to use intellectualism and technology for production.

Q: What specific, practical strategies do you have to help farmers grow more food?

A: I have launched 23 new tractors to help farmers plough their fields. The county government is subsiding the service from Sh4,500 to Sh1,500 per acre. We are distributing sorghum seeds to farmers to grow the crop. An investor has expressed interest in setting up a brewery in Kisumu.

We encourage farmers to grow more rice using gravity irrigation. The county government will team up with the national government to market the produce and reduce the importation of cheap rice.

Another investor has agreed to help us with rice cleaning so that it meets international standards. You realise that we have no vegetables. We want everybody to have a vegetable garden. We are giving out vegetable seeds to families to start gardens as well as water tanks for domestic irrigation.

The government of South Korea is willing to help us with the project. My government will also improve livestock farming: We have identified a farm in the Muhoroni area which we want to use as a centre for breeding.

Once we breed the animals, we will distribute the heifers to families. There are also plans to start a cooling plant in Muhoroni. Kisumu county residents have the potential to produce huge amounts of food through horticulture in areas such as Nyando and Seme.

An airline operator has indicated that he will fly our produce to markets in DRC and other parts of central Africa. This equipment here is a sample hatchery which we intend to distribute to farmers for chicken production.

Q: Talking of housing, Kisumu County has a major housing crisis, particularly for the middle income earners.
A: There are no houses, even for the poor. We have five slums inside the city. They cannot afford better houses. This requires a strong middle class which will create demand for the right types of houses, create jobs as well as market for goods.

Q: Kisumu has dismal health statistics especially on infant mortality, low life expectancy and the lack of maternity services. Can your government be looked to to to save lives?

A: Yes. The number of children dying at birth is high due to an extreme lack of maternity services. We have launched community health services. Most of the children here are born with the help of nyamurerwas(traditional midwives).

My government has come up with what we call the wadagi strategy. First, we are revamping all stalled health centres and posting staff.

The health department is equipping dispensaries to offer maternity services. We have put drugs in all these places. All hospitals will be required to have a maternity wing.

We have invested in eight ambulances for each sub-county [and we]are posting surgeons to faraway places such as Muhoroni and Nyakach.

The county government have added a dialysis machine and is setting up a cancer centre at the Jaramogi Referral Hospital. Of all the efforts we have made, the health sector has received the most attention. I will be breaking ground for construction of an ultra-modern eye hospital at Otonglo to be built with the support of donors. Another hospital will be set up at the Seme border.

Q: Lake Victoria is an important resource for this county yet there seems to be a challenge in utilising its wealth to benefit the people. What is not being done right?

A: We have a challenge with the hyacinth. We have joined forces with Migori and Busia counties to hire a machine to remove the weed with the support of the World Bank. Under the arrangement, Kisumu County will be responsible for maintenance. This is expected to increase fish population. The problem that our fishermen face is mainly preservation of fish.

The county government has distributed 15 coolers to prevent fishermen from selling their catch at throwaway prices. We are also working with the East Africa Community to set up a fish auction in Kisumu. This will give fishermen best prices.

To ease transport across the lake, we formed a company to run ferry services through a public-private partnership arrangement.
Q: Why are most of roads under your jurisdiction in a sorry state?

A: We are teaming up with the national government to do the trunk roads. We hope to tarmac the road corridor between Siaya and Kisumu along the lake. We want to connect roads and water management systems. Our plan is to give attention to Dunga road, Rabuor-Mamboleo by-pass and Kenyatta-Kiboswa dual carriageway.

This will reduce congestion in Kisumu city. We don’t want a situation like Nairobi. You don’t have to get into Kisumu to go to places such as Busia and Kakamega.

Q: You have made several references to the national government. Coming from the ODM heartland, your relationship with the Uhuru-Ruto administration can be tricky. How would you navigate that?

A: It is a balance. We in ODM have resolved that we must work with the national government to ensure we unlock resources for the benefit of our people.

The national government controls a Sh1.6 billion budget out of which only Sh210 billion is allocated to the counties. You cannot get a share of the remaining amount without working with the national government.

That does not mean we are going to beg. More significantly, the Constitution assigns county and national governments different roles and requires them to work in consultation.

Part of the national government projects are carried out in my county. Take the Sh300 million Koru dam project, the Katuko dam being done under the Lake Basin management authority. We need services that are delivered by the national government.

That is why we must work with President Uhuru and his deputy Ruto. The railway to link Mombasa and Kisumu can only be done by the national government. It is my duty to lobby it to extend the standard gauge rail to Kisumu.

The only organisation mandated to carry out certain responsibilities on Lake Victoria is the Kenya Ports Authority. That is a national government entity. We are competing with the Dar es Salaam port; that is why I must lobby the EAC through Uhuru to develop Lake Victoria.

Q: The waste management tender awarded by your government stinks and touches on your integrity. The accusation is you differed with your minister over the kickback share.

A: The executive makes decisions. It did not approve the project. Once approved, it can be interrogated by the assembly. Somebody completed a tender process and purported to award a tender that did not exist.

The tender is signed by an individual without approval of the Executive. I have written to the Attorney-General seeking an opinion on whether the action was lawful.

Q: But why is your minister still in office?

A: He is being investigated. If found culpable we will do the right thing and subject himself to a court process.

Q: Rising insecurity is a major challenge in Kisumu county. Don’t you think it is impossible to achieve your ambitions in such an environment?

It boils down to lack of jobs. This can be created through industry, commercial agriculture and utilisation of new technology and management of our talent. To help Kisumu grow we are promoting free WFi. This will create jobs for youth and ease education. We are electrifying key areas of the city to boost security and trade.

Q: If Sunday Nation visited Kisumu after four years. What kind of progress can we expect to see?

A: You will find a new Kisumu. We have completed our integrated plan for the new Kisumu. It is a 30-year plan which will be enacted into law by the assembly.

We want to turn Kisumu to face the lake in order to ease transport, promote tourism and expand trade. You will find a food secure Kisumu with vibrant industry, lake transport, a Kisumu with road by-passes, child mortality will be completely eradicated, a county in which people manage their water resources well, a new 50,000-seater stadium, guava factory in Nyakach and cement manufacturer in Muhoroni.