The CS observed that President William Ruto and Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces has resolved to transform the agricultural sector both on crop and livestock production to improve the fortunes of farmers across the country.
The CS made the remarks Tuesday at KMC Headquarters in Athi River during the signing of the performance contract between KMC and MoD.
CS Duale signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry while the Chairperson of KMC Board Lieutenant General (Rtd) Jackson Kasaon signed on behalf of KMC.
Additionally, Defence Principal Secretary Patrick Mariru and KMC Managing Commissioner Brigadier James Githaga signed a cascaded Performance Contract.
Duale stated that over the years, the Ministry has been widely known for its integrity, efficiency, professionalism and prudent use of public resources and that same values shall be adopted to run the factory.
The Ministry officials were later taken through a guided tour of the facility to familiarise themselves with the operational capacity and capability of the facility.
The CS applauded the KMC leadership for turning around the facility over a short span and highlighted that more needs to be done to enhance farmer’s confidence to enable them supply their livestock to the facility.
“I came here years ago but this factory is not the way it was at that time. There is total transformation and I want to thank the leadership in a special way for turning around this facility to what it is today,” said the CS.
He urged the KMC leadership to be more innovative to ensure they tap more revenue streams and at the same time cut unnecessary expenditure.
“As the leadership of MoD, we assure you our total support to ensure that you accomplish what you envision in your Strategic Plan and what you’ve promised to achieve in the performance contract,” the CS added.
Since the factory was placed under the Ministry of Defence, over 50,000 herds of livestock have been slaughtered translating to over Ksh2.2 billion paid to farmers spread across 37 counties.
Vice Chief of Defence Forces (VCDF) Lieutenant General Jonah Mwangi thanked the CS for the strategic guidance saying there’s room to make KMC more profitable.
Christine Muchira