Former Planning Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera has advised President William Ruto’s administration to prioritize modernizing Kisumu as a port city.
Speaking on Wednesday, March 25, Nyakera stated that a modern and efficient Kisumu Port would transform the economy of not just Nyanza region, but the entire country.
Nyakera expressed support for completing the Naivasha to Kisumu rail link as a crucial step to connecting the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to Lake Victoria, a move he believes will unlock regional trade.
However, Nyakera, who has declared his bid for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat in 2027, criticized the government’s decision to extend the SGR from Kisumu to Malaba border town.
“The SGR already traverses approximately eight counties from Mombasa to Naivasha, yet the economic activity envisioned around those stations has not been fully realized,” he noted. “The vision was never merely a railway, but a logistics and industrial corridor, so the priority now should be utilization, integration, and real value creation at county level.”
Accordingly, Nyakera recommended that instead of rushing to extend the SGR from Kisumu to Malaba, the government should focus on developing the Port of Kisumu and transporting cargo across Lake Victoria into Uganda and beyond.
“This approach is faster, more practical, and aligned with existing trade flows, while investing about 170 billion shillings into the Malaba extension without firm regional alignment risks building ahead of demand,” he added.
Rather than spending approximately KSh170 billion on extending SGR to Malaba, Nyakera suggested the government could accelerate the LAPSSET corridor by completing the Lamu-Ijara-Garissa-Isiolo Road, roughly 500 kilometres.
This LAPSSET corridor, he said, would open up northern Kenya and drive trade, jobs, and GDP growth across underserved regions.
“There will be a time to extend SGR to Malaba, but that time is not now.”