Regional Integration Committee Meets With CS Murkomen and CS Mutua to Discuss Ways of Partnering Foe Regional Integration Cause
Regional Integration Committee chaired by Hon. Wanjiku Muhia (Kipipiri) has held a stakeholders engagement retreat with different Ministries in Mombasa County in a bid to look for ways of collaboration and coordination to advance the cause of regional integration in the East Africa Community (EAC) region.
The Ministry of roads and transport lead by their Cabinet Secr etary, Kipchumba Murkomen and the two Principal Secretaries, Eng. Joseph Mbugua and Mohamed Daghar for roads and transport state departments respectively, was the first lot to appear before the committee during their morning session.
During their engagement, the Committee members sought to be apprised on a number of issues by the Ministry among them the programmes and projects it is undertaking to support and enhance regional integration.
While responding, CS Murkomen told the members that the Ministry has deliberate plans towards boosting trade between Kenya and the rest of EAC region. He told the members that plans are underway to expand SGR to Malaba border.
“Our country’s economy depends on regional integration touching on trade corridors that create employment and business opportunities from the port city of Mombasa to other cities and small towns across Kenya,” CS Murkomen said.
Through the Chair, the members asked Eng. Mbugua how efficiency of cross-border transport can be increased with an aim of reducing the cost of trade of trading across borders along the Northern and Central corridors.
On the question, Eng. Mbugua told the members that having a joint regional approach to packaging and resource mobilization from development partners and for development of multinational or cross border highways between partner states was one of the interventions.
Mr. Daghar told the members that to reduce the congestion at weighbridges along highways, they have put in place automation of payment of overload fees and penalties by non-compliant vehicles using RTGS, Mobile Money Payment Platforms.
After CS Murkomen and his two PSs, the CS Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Alfred Mutua was next to appear before the Committee.
CS Mutua told the members that regional Integration is an important facet of the country’s foreign policy and bottom-up economic transformation Agenda that his ministry advocates for.
“The Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) which is the government’s plan, recognizes Kenya’s significance as an anchor state in regional integration particularly in the EAC which is one of the regional blocks that ultimately builds up to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” CS Mutua told the committee.
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