COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF MERU

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

REMARKS BY KIRAITU MURUNGI, GOVERNOR, MERU COUNTY DURING THE LAUNCH OF MARKET DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES (MDCs) ON FRIDAY 29^TH MARCH 2019 AT KINORU STADIUM.

The County Commissioner

CEC Members

Members of County Assembly

The Members and Chairmen of Market Development Committees

Government Officials

All leaders present

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

I want to begin by welcoming you all to this auspicious occasion of launching the Market Development Associations (MDAs). I thank all of you most sincerely for volunteering to manage your various markets.

I also congratulate you for being elected in the peaceful democratic elections which were conducted by the Department of Trade.

My mission as the Governor of Meru is to make Meru Great. Today, we are here to make our market centres great. We are for the first time in the history of Kenya launching 159 Market Development Committees.

During our campaign I promised to modernize all our towns and market centres. I promised to create a conducive business environment, to promote entrepreneurship, and business opportunities in Meru County. I also promised to create space and conducive environment for small traders, boda bodas, matatus and kiosk owners to do their business in an orderly and peaceful manner. I promised the people of Meru, that my Government will be a Government of the people; an all-inclusive consultative government in which the people choose their own leaders, and participate in the management of their own affairs. That is what we have come to do today. We want to empower you to manage your own markets.

We shall count on you to make your markets very good places to you to live, to work, to do business and to enjoy yourselves. We want all our markets to be clean, and green. Our guiding motto is "MY TOWN, MY BUSINESS".

We want to introduce a modern rural governance system in Meru County through grassroots democracy, which gives more autonomy, self-reliance, and self-management to the local people. We want to encourage our people to develop local solutions to local problems.

We are not thinking about today. We are thinking about the future. We have decided to embark on this urbanization strategy because the Meru economy and society are in a transition period. We are slowly moving away from our traditional family agricultural based society into a modern commercial and service economy.

It is projected that by the year 2040, about 60% of the Meru people will be living in an urban environment. We need to modernize our countryside by providing better houses, better roads, water and electricity, and better ecological environments in all our markets.

Secondly, we are dealing largely with a low level, stagnant agricultural economy which has not seen any significant changes for many years.

We have to continually seek ways for increasing local demand for agricultural products, so as to increase our farmer’s incomes and purchasing power, and create work for our unemployed youth.

One way of promoting the village agricultural economy is by promoting rural urbanisation. When we improve our markets and towns, we shall increase their populations, and this will increase consumption of agricultural products. No farmer sells milk, cabbages or potatoes to another farmer. These are bought by people in towns and markets, because they don’t grow them.

By expanding our towns and markets, we are expanding the market for our agricultural products. The answer to rural development therefore lies in accelerated urbanisation of our society.

Therefore, you have a huge task ahead of you. What you will be doing as Market leaders cannot be measured in hours spent. I know that for some of you, the role of market leaders has also evolved considerably in recent years, and especially with devolution. I am also aware that your colleagues have entrusted you with weighty responsibility including: