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Kenya: Kibaki Ignores World Bank Funds Row
Real estate news By Kenneth Ogosia And Pps
22 October 2007
President Kibaki on Sunday refused to be drawn into the controversy involving World Bank consultants in managing the informal sector enterprise funds. The President ignored complaints raised by Jua Kali officials that Small and Medium Enterprise funds were being used by privately appointed consultants without any monitoring and that there was no any trickle-down effect. The officials complained that billions of shillings meant to help the Jua Kali sector was being spent without any impact on Kenyans by Bretton Woods appointed consultants who had advertised jobs that would drain the funds.
They, however, praised the Government for helping the informal sector and cited the voucher training system as one that gave their members empowerment in the sector. The Head of State also underlined the important role played by the small enterprise sector popularly known as Jua Kali in job creation and called for its expansion. The President noted that the Jua Kali sector employs 18.49 per cent of the workforce in Kenya making it one of the leading enterprises for job creation in the country. President Kibaki was speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi yesterday after touring stands at the East African Community sponsored Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi expo 2007.
He pointed out that the informal sector in the region now had a bigger market after the entry of Rwanda and Burundi in the East African Community and urged players in the Jua Kali sector to take advantage of the enlarged market to promote and sell their products. The President also called on residents in the region to popularise the use of Kiswahili noting that the language was not only a lingua franca in the region but had also been accepted as one of the languages of the African Union The minister for East African Cooperation, Dr Wilfred Machage, conducted the President around the exhibition stands. Earlier, President Kibaki joined Catholic faithful for a Sunday mass at the Holy Family Minor Basilica where George Mungai, a deacon at the church, delivered the sermon.
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