Uasin Gishu Gubernatorial aspirant Bundotich Zedekiah Kiprop, popularly known as Buzeki, has put current and former county administrations on the spot over the use of devolved funds, asking how more than Ksh 100 billion has been spent with “no flagship manufacturing factory” to show for it.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Buzeki took a thinly veiled swipe at Governor Jonathan Bii Chelilim and his predecessor Jackson Mandago, questioning the county’s development record since 2013.
“As we reflect today, let us ask ourselves one honest question: HOW HAVE WE SPENT OVER KSH 100 BILLION since the advent of county governments, yet Uasin Gishu County still LACKS a single flagship manufacturing factory for value addition?” he wrote.
Buzeki said the county is “blessed with fertile land and hardworking farmers” producing maize, wheat, milk, potatoes, avocado, coffee and beef in abundance. But he argued that the failure to process these products locally means Uasin Gishu continues to “export raw produce instead of finished products that create wealth at home.”
How Buzeki plans to industrialise Uasin Gishu County
He proposed a shift to industrialization, listing potential factories for:
- Milk into cheese, butter and powdered milk
- Potatoes into chips, crisps and starch
- Wheat into premium flour and bakery products
- Maize into animal feeds, flour and industrial products
- Avocado into oil
- Coffee into roasted and branded products
He also suggested assembling tractors and equipment locally and importing fertilizer directly to reduce costs.
“That is how you create jobs. That is how you increase exports. That is how you improve farmers’ earnings. That is how you grow a county’s economy,” Buzeki said.
The aspirant framed manufacturing as the missing link in the county’s growth, criticizing what he called leadership focused on “speeches and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.”
“The next generation deserves leaders who understand that MANUFACTURING IS THE ENGINE OF ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION,” he stated. “THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW.”
Buzeki pledged to turn Uasin Gishu into “a manufacturing hub for Kenya and East Africa” where “our youth find jobs at home, our farmers earn more from every harvest.”
“Leadership must be measured by the industries it builds, the jobs it creates, and the prosperity it leaves behind—not by the amount of money it spends,” he added, ending the post with his signature line: “tai ole tai – king ole king.”
Buzeki is positioning himself as a contender for the Uasin Gishu governor’s seat in the 2027 general election. Both Governor Bii and former Governor Mandago have previously defended their administrations’ use of county allocations on infrastructure, health and agriculture programs.
A recent survey ranked him second in the gubernatorial race behind Tourism Principal Secretary Julius Bitok. Incumbent Jonathan Bii Chelilim was third.
