Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro has directed that county tenders be given to local business people before those from outside get them so that county funds circulate in the local economy.
Mr Mung’aro wondered why some business people from upcountry were grabbing tenders and flying back to their counties with Kilifi county money.
He said this in Malindi town while distributing 11 boats purchased by the blue economy department and the Shellah ward development fund.
“The boats I am issuing out today will enable fishermen to improve their catch and make more money for their livelihood,” he said.
Kilifi County is among the counties that receive the largest allocation from the national treasury but residents still wallow in poverty.
“We have people who make photocopies of county licenses and hang them in different shops just to evade paying taxes but we are coming up with licenses that cannot be photocopied,” he said.
Mr Mung’aro added that he will soon meet all business people working as contractors so that he can know them.
“I will meet the contractors so that I can know if they are residents or from outside because we have contractors who fly here in the morning, take a tender, and fly back to Nairobi in the evening. Our county money should circulate among residents,” he said.
Shella ward MCA Twahir Abdulrahman said that the investment in the fishing industry will spur the blue economy in the area and put people’s money in their pockets.
“Our fishermen were complaining about poor service delivery like accessing the sea easily but now we have started making them work properly,” he said.
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