{"id":12523,"date":"2020-08-09T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=12523"},"modified":"2020-08-09T17:32:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T17:32:13","slug":"why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground","title":{"rendered":"Why regional blocs flopped even before hitting ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> When governors across the 47 counties mooted the idea of regional blocs, they touted them as the silver bullet that would change the fortunes of their regions.<\/p>\n

Optimism surrounding the idea was evident, as the county chiefs fell over each other to establish economic partnerships, promising residents a turnaround in their lives.<\/p>\n

The seven regional economic blocs that came into being were the Lake Region Economic Bloc (14 members), the North Rift Economic Bloc (seven members), the Central Kenya Economic Bloc (10 members), the Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani (six members), the South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc (three members), the Frontier Counties Development Council (seven members), and Narok-Kajiado Economic Bloc (Nakaeb).<\/p>\n

Within no time, however, the blocs became talking shops, as grandiose plans fell apart due to lack of money, competition for influence and a sudden realisation that without a legal framework, the blocs were built on quicksand.<\/p>\n

Among the first to run into headwinds was the North Rift Economic Bloc (Noreb) comprising Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Turkana, Baringo and Samburu.\u00a0The bloc had promised an end to incessant challenges ranging from deadly cattle rustling, border conflicts, and unexploited potential in agriculture among others.<\/p>\n

The governors also agreed to come up with inter-county tariffs that would make it conducive to partner in trade and investment.\u00a0They promised a regional bank, an idea that ran into headwinds as soon as it was mooted.<\/p>\n

Even before the ink had dried on the agreement signed at a breakfast meeting by the governors, Nandi and Trans Nzoia counties walked away from the bloc, and joined the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), arguing the new bloc served their interest better.<\/p>\n

Expand trade<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe told our partners that priority for us was to expand trade within the region. We eyed exploiting economic opportunities within the 14 members LREB\u2026 It has not been easy to form a banking institution by the member counties which fronted the proposal. Member counties have been confronted by a lot of issues and have since faced headwinds,\u201d Nandi Governor Stephen Sang told africa-press this week.<\/p>\n

The Noreb promise has been stuck in a warp, with two county assembly speakers who spoke to\u00a0Sunday Standard\u00a0saying it is starved of cash to execute its goals since assemblies in the region have not had a common stand to legalise it and enable the devolved units to allocate cash for its operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the county assemblies in the eight devolved units pass a Bill that will ratify a legal framework and policies of Noreb, no funds will be released to fund the regional body to operate fully,\u201d said Joshua Kiptoo, Nandi County Speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernors are more preoccupied with activities within their counties and have not given much attention to the regional bloc. Norem has good ideas that could boost economic progress in the region,\u201d added Mr Kiptoo.<\/p>\n

Noreb\u2019s story has been replicated in Mt Kenya where on November 3, 2017, eight governors answered the call to attend a meeting convened by then Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru to discuss the region\u2019s future.\u00a0At this meeting the idea of the Central Kenya Economic Bloc was mooted.<\/p>\n

Their first agenda was revival of the 240-kilometre railway to boost horticulture, coffee, rice and dairy farming, which are the key sectors.\u00a0County governments of Nairobi, Kiambu, Murang\u2019a, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Laikipia, Nyandarua and Isiolo were willing to set aside Sh100 million towards the project but no agreement was signed to that effect.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Governor Gakuru, who was viewed as the engine of the bloc, died in a road accident, and the bloc never recovered.<\/p>\n

Chief Executive Officer Ndirangu Gachunia said as long as the economic blocs are not recognised in law, the counties cannot fund activities of the bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no funds to set up a proper secretariat and all the staff for Cereb have been seconded by their county governments, and counties cannot fund the bloc without a legal framework,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

He explained that without human resources such as economists, researchers and programme officers, the economic bloc was relegated to carrying out only basic functions such as networking and lobbying for resources from the national government and donors.<\/p>\n

\u201cCereb has not yet had tangible results that can be highlighted. I believe the leadership of the bloc should be business people because business will drive the economic agenda of the bloc and will not change,\u201d said Martin Ndirangu, CEO of Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nyeri Chapter.\u00a0In the lake region, the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have jerked governors from slumber, with suggestions of a joint approach in the fight against virus.<\/p>\n

The proposal, however, came at a time a number of the bloc\u2019s legacy projects have failed to kick off five years since its formation.\u00a0The bloc comprises Kisii, Nyamira, Migori, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya, Bomet, Nandi, Kericho, Vihiga, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia.\u00a0In January, five of the 14 regional governors failed to show up for a summit to discuss key issues facing the bloc.<\/p>\n

Summit snubbed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The summit was also snubbed by local senators, speakers and MCAs, despite having been formally invited, according to LREB officials.\u00a0The poor attendance stalled the agenda of the much-hyped conference, at some stages frustrating efforts\u00a0to discuss\u00a0some of the key issues and challenges\u00a0facing the\u00a0bloc.<\/p>\n

According to bloc CEO Abala Wanga, lack of policy to operationalise the entity has become its biggest undoing, a situation which makes it difficult to source for funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, eight LREB members have pledged their contributions to the regional bloc, but they were held back by the Controller of Budget who could not approve the transfer of the moneys to the regional bloc account due to lack of legal framework,\u201d said Wanga.<\/p>\n

The bloc had lined up the formation of a regional bank, revival of the maritime transport, and the sugar sector, which have all stalled due to lack of funds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: When governors across the 47 counties mooted the idea of regional blocs, they touted them as the silver bullet that would change the fortunes of their regions. Optimism surrounding the idea was evident, as the county chiefs fell over each other to establish economic partnerships, promising residents a turnaround in their lives. The seven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[5129,605,2711,5130],"class_list":["post-12523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-lake-region-economic-bloc","tag-mt-kenya","tag-noreb","tag-north-rift-economic-bloc"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy regional blocs flopped even before hitting ground - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When governors across the 47 counties mooted the idea of regional blocs, they touted them as the silver bullet that would change the fortunes of their\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why regional blocs flopped even before hitting ground\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When governors across the 47 counties mooted the idea of regional blocs, they touted them as the silver bullet that would change the fortunes of their\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-09T17:32:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/mt_kenya_bigwigs_to_5f06205d8df03.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Why regional blocs flopped even before hitting ground\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-09T17:32:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\"},\"wordCount\":991,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/mt_kenya_bigwigs_to_5f06205d8df03.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lake Region Economic Bloc\",\"Mt Kenya\",\"Noreb\",\"North Rift Economic Bloc\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/why-regional-blocs-flopped-even-before-hitting-ground\",\"name\":\"Why regional blocs flopped even before hitting ground - 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