Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi has defended his recent foreign trips, saying he secured goodies for Baringo residents.
It follows a public uproar, with complaints that the county boss had focused a lot on foreign tours since he took over office, with some saying they feel he is not serving them.
Among them is Mr Ezekiel Kipsoi, who complained that the governor had become a tourist yet people back home are dying of hunger and suffering at the hands of bandits. Baringo county is among counties ravaged by cattle rustling.
The Baringo governor toured Korea from March 11 to March 18, and later accompanied President William Ruto to Germany from March 27 to April 1.
On Wednesday, the county boss said while on the trips, he was privileged to meet friends and development partners who are willing to initiate projects in the region.
“Partnerships and linkages are not only about locals. It’s about us and national government institutions, development partners, friends from beyond and borders,” said Mr Cheboi.
“The latest last week I had an opportunity to meet friends and partners from Germany and Korea. We went to Korea with a small team from the county under the invitation of a non-governmental organization — World Best Friends — who worked with us in my first term, ” added the governor.
Sponsored trip
The organisation, he said, not only invited them but also paid for their trip to Germany.
According to the governor, the trip yielded some fruits and he was able to meet officials from the NGO, and their discussions centered on coffee exports from Baringo to Korea.
“Coffee is one of our flagship crops and we would like to be a premier county in the production of coffee, not just for processing here, but also to cut a niche in the export market. We have had an opportunity to export our coffee to Korea and because it is of good quality, people have also been using it to blend other coffee,” said Mr Cheboi
“Through the NGO, we were also able to get support from Reverend Cha Bo Yo, who led the construction of the Sh100 million coffee milling plant in Baringo North. He agreed to give us Sh5 million for the purchase of coffee seedlings for farmers,” he added.
The governor said the move will go a long way in increasing the production and income of coffee farmers in the region.
He noted that the devolved unit is targeting to grow more than 5 million coffee trees in five years, expected to increase the annual income to more than Sh4 billion.
“That is an opportunity to increase the circulation of money in this county, not only local but also foreign currency,” noted the county boss.
Richest Korea province
He also explained that he was able to create a collaboration with one of the richest provinces in Korea, which is an economic and industrial hub for the state.
“We agreed that they will support us in the health sector. Korea is an advanced nation in the sector and the best in the world. We have agreed that we will have exchange programs of medical personnel and they will also support us in the purchase of media equipment for diagnosis,” he explained.
He said that the collaboration was a big breakthrough for the county and they will be able to sign a deal in May.
On his trip, the governor also indicated that they agreed with the partners to train some graduates to learn the Korean language so that they can get an opportunity of working there.
“We are exploring the opportunity and we will get our graduates to get the experience of working in Korea. For that reason, I am appealing to people who are willing to work there to think of learning the Korean language,” said Mr Cheboi.
He revealed that a team of industrialists, businessmen, and entrepreneurs will be visiting the county in May to explore business opportunities and investment to create jobs.
“Those are the goodies I came with and I am pretty sure they are beneficial to locals,” said the county boss.
He was also part of the delegation that accompanied President Ruto to Germany for five days on a business forum for the two countries.
