A grand vision to industrialize Kenya's counties, launched with pomp by then-Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, has devolved into a multi-billion shilling fiasco. Three years on, not one of the 47 County Aggregation and Industrial Parks is complete, leaving a trail of empty lots, abandoned construction, and shattered hopes for job creation.

The project, a cornerstone of the Kenya Kwanza administration's bottom-up economic agenda, has swallowed at least KES 5 billion (approx. $38.5 million) of public funds. This figure represents a matched contribution, with the national government disbursing KES 2.5 billion to ten counties, which were then required to allocate an equal amount. The total planned budget was a staggering KES 23.5 billion.

A Landscape of Stalled Dreams

The reality on the ground paints a grim picture of government waste. A recent report by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) exposed the scale of the failure, noting that 13 counties have not even broken ground. Another 16 counties have seen minimal progress, with construction languishing below 30% completion. In counties like Homa Bay, a site President William Ruto personally visited in February 2024, the promised park is now grazing land for local farmers.

The project was designed to reverse rural-urban migration by creating jobs and adding value to local agricultural produce. During the launches in 2023, Kuria promised the parks would be operational within a year, a deadline that has passed without a single ribbon being cut. Governors have since blamed the national government for the collapse, citing failure to disburse the required funds in a timely manner.

Accountability in Question

Critics, including lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, have seized on the stalled project as a symbol of governmental inefficiency and broken promises. The controversy adds to a list of contentious issues from Kuria's tenure as Trade CS, which was also marked by the KES 6 billion edible oil scandal. Kuria, who was later fired from the cabinet, has described the project's failure as a 'lost dream'. He maintains his vision was to industrialize the counties but that the momentum was lost after he was moved from the ministry.

Despite the widespread failure, the government has allocated an additional KES 4.45 billion for the project in the current financial year, raising questions about pouring more money into a venture that has yet to deliver any tangible results for Kenyans.

• Project Status: 0 out of 47 parks complete.
• Funds Spent: At least KES 5 billion.
• Counties Yet to Start: 13.
• Counties Below 30% Completion: 16.

As dust settles on these abandoned sites, the KES 5 billion question remains: will the industrial parks ever move from cautionary tale to catalyst for the rural economies they promised to transform?