H.E. Amb Samori Okwiya(L) presenting a gift to Mr Alberto Lim (R), Philippines Secretary of Foreign affairs during a courtesy call paid by the Ambassador to the secretary’s office.

The Kenya High Commissioner to Malaysia recently had a visit to Manila Philippines from January 10^th to January 12^th which involved a number of fruitful meetings with key players in the government and private sector. The main highlight of the visit was to attend the New Year Vin D’honneur Hosted by H.E. Mr Bengine S. Aquino III, President of the Republic of Philippines at his Malacanang Palace. The ceremony, which is annually hosted by the President, was attended by heads of all the secretaries in various departments of the Philippine cabinet and Heads of Missions resident in the Philippines and others representing the region.

The Ambassador also paid a courtesy call to secretaries of various ministries including Mr Alberto Lim (Secretary, Department of Tourism), Mr Mario G. Montejo (Secretary, Department of Science & Technology), Mr Albert F. Del Rosario(Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs). The Philippines foreign affairs ministry expressed interest in inviting the Kenya Foreign Affairs Minister Honourable Moses Wetangula to the Philippines to further strengthen the ties between the two countries.  The two also agreed to look into joint venture trade agreement between the Kenya and the Philippines.

During his tour the Ambassador also had an appointment with Mr. Dondi Mapa, National Technolgy Officer (NTO) of Microsoft Phillipines. The two discussed various ICT projects between the two countries and how Kenya can benefit by adopting various IT policies and infrastructure implemented in Philippines. Among the IT policies discussed is sponsoring the needy Kenyan youth to study ICT courses in the university by coming up with a voucher system that is being used in the Philippines. In this system, the government issues study partial of full study scholarship to IT student then later on hire them to work in various IT projects and institution run by the government.  Mr Mapa also expressed interest in the Malili ICT Park being developed in Konza and promised to look into how the ITAP can invest into this project for the benefit of the two countries.

Finally the Ambassador had a Luncheon meeting with  Mr Albert Yuchengco, Honourable Consulate of the Republic of Kenya based residing in the Peninsula Philippines. The Ambassador conveyed his gratitude the Hon. Consulate for his service as the official representative of the Kenyan government in the Philippines. The two agreed to look into working on ensuring that the Kenyan Independence Celebration in 12^th December 2012 this year can be celebrated even in the Philippines. Previously, the National Day has been celebrated by hosting a reception at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which is the country of residence for the Kenya High Commission. Besides the Philippines, H.E Amb. Samori Okwiya  is also accredited as the official Ambassador to Kenya in Brunei and Indonesia.

Players of the Kenyan Impala Rugby Club participated in the HSBC 42nd HSBC COBRA 10s rugby tournament

The club was received a warm welcome in Malaysia by the Ambassador and Kenyans in Malaysia. As expected, Kenyans showed in big numbers to cheer and support the Impala as they dismantled the other teams with a powerful display of running rugby against their opponents. The event was organized by The Combined Old Boys Rugby Association (known as COBRA) , a prominent rugby club in Malaysia under the Malaysia Rugby Union. The Kenyan Ambassador His Excellency Amb. Samori Ang’wa Okwiya also graced the event to join other Kenyans in supporting the Impala Club.

Impala club player in action

The Impala club Captain presents a jersey to the Ambassador when being hosted for dinner by the Ambassador at his residence

H.E. Amb Okwiya with the Impala Rugby Team

Imapala Players attacking an opponent player

Impala player Stuart Minjire in action during the group stage of the tournament.

Kenyan fans in Malaysia who showed up to cheer and support the Impala Rugby team

Kenyans participated in both the 21km and the 10km race for both men and women. Winning being their international athletic routine, the Kenyan athletes managed to sweep and win in all the categories as highlighted below:

Open 21km For Men:  1. Joseph Mwangi Ngare (1:05:08),   2. Onesmus Muasya Maundi (1:05:26)  , 3. Michael Hoywala (1:05:28).

Open 21Km for Women: 1. Esther Wambui Karimi (1:16:31), 2. Ann Mukuhi  Nihia ( 1:23:23), 3. Chelangat  Bore(1:23:38).

Open 10km for Men: 1.Mutai David Kipkoroi(31:36), 2. Elphaz Kipchumba (31:47).

The event was colorful and a jovial mood was evident among the Kenyans as the Kenyan flag flew higher.

This more than doubles Kenya’s national budget of 2011/12, which stood at Sh1.2 trillion.

The project, whose ground breaking is November, is expected to be funded through Public-Private Partnerships, government and donors.

It is hoped to be complete by 2030 to coincide with the year Kenya should have attained a medium-level economy status.

Speaking during the closing day of the two-day regional conference on infrastructure at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Lamu Project Manager, Mr Peter Oremo, said the government will seek long-term funding through infrastructure bonds.

“The project involves a huge capital outlay, which is why it will be implemented in phases. The benefits once completed are also huge,” he added.

Its components include a port, railway, highway, airport, pipeline, resort cities and support infrastructure like water and telecommunications.

According to projections, the port will require $5.3 billion, railway $8.6 billion, highway $1.6 billion, pipeline $3.7 billion, resort cities $680 million, airport $560 million, refinery $2.8 billion, while other support infrastructure, including water and telecommunications, is projected to cost $2.5 billion.

“This is the most ambitious project since the construction of Kenya-Uganda railway, over 100 years ago,” President Kibaki said when he opened the conference on Wednesday.

Remittances by member states funds from European Union Investment Bank, Public Private Partnership engagements and donations from development agencies are other sources of Sh4 trillion ($40 billion) needed annually for efficient trans-boundary transport system.

The regional blocs are banking more on external financing to support green field (new) projects and to expand the existing ones to meet increasing trade volumes since most of the national government have huge domestic budgetary deficits to plug.

“These entities have each made separate pledges to us. I have a rough idea of what we have in hand and how much more we still need before the projects start,” Mr Sindiso Ngwenya, Comesa Secretary-General said.

He declined to divulge further details saying it could pre-empt the tripartite conference that is set to discuss the regional projects with international financiers in Nairobi Wednesday and Thursday.

The projects are meant to connect 19 countries of Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Inter Governmental Authority (IGAD) and East African Community (EAC) ahead of the planned merger.

Majority of the countries belonging to the three trading blocs are landlocked making the planned ports, roads and railway critical elements in the intraregional trade.

“The Nairobi forum is the continent’s opportunity to address the poor infrastructural link has kept intraregional trade in Africa at the lower level of 10 per cent compared to West Europe’s 60 per cent,” said Kenya’s Trade PS, Mr Abdulrazaq Ali.

The officials said contractors from the region will have the priority during the tendering process since they expect to built capacity for rehabilitating them in future.

The heads of the states from southern, central and northern Africa had given the trading blocs a total of 36 months to harmonise their rules of origin and set up a free trade area aimed at easing trade among member nations.

“For projects such as Lamu where the Kenyan Government has finalised a feasibility study, we expect the construction to start soon,” said Mr Ngwenya who also serves as the chairman of the tripartite taskforce that coordinates the development of key transport corridors of the region.

In taking control of the regional projects, the taskforce relies on the legal framework provided by the MoU signed two years ago among the regional economic communities.

“In the region, a project such as Lamu transport corridor belongs to all states that it connects and is therefore not controlled by Kenya,” said Mr Philip Wambugu, Director of Infrastructure at EAC secretariat.

Officials said Comesa Secretariat was already scouting for a Transaction Advisor to guide the issuance of infrastructure bonds among the 19 member states.

The deliberate efforts will begin soon after the Nairobi Conference to build capacity of the member state’s capital markets to permit the floating of regional bonds, officials announced.

By George Omondi