Help us catch up, Isiolo Governor Godana Doyo asks donors

Isiolo Governor Godana Doyo has urged the donor community to help the county initiate development projects, saying they have little money to undertake meaningful development.

He said as one of the counties from the marginalised northern Kenya, Isiolo requires external help to initiate development projects.

Mr Doyo noted that the county gets 'very little' money from the National Treasury for development.

The Governor was speaking when he met the Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya David Angell in his office on Friday. He was flanked by county executives Asha Abdi (Finance), Ahmed Shone (Education), Ibrahim Wako (County Secretary) and Ali Surrow (Water and Irrigation) among others during the meeting.

Ms Abdi said Isiolo got Sh2.4 billion in the 2013/2014 financial year and Sh3.2 billion this financial year (2014/2015).

"We spend nearly the entire amount on recurrent expenditure which includes devolved services which the national government has not catered for. We are left with less than Sh1 billion for development,'' she told the envoy.

Doyo said Isiolo is among the former colonial Northern Frontier Districts (NFD) which had been locked out of development by the British colonial government and successive Kenyan governments.

Marginalised counties

"We are among the marginalised counties that were left out of all spheres of development but we are happy with the devolved government structure. We require help from the international community to catch up with the rest of country," he stated.

Complicating the situation, said the Governor, is the perennial drought that forces the residents to rely on relief food and deaths of livestock.

Mr Angell said Canada donates relief to the World Food Programme that helps in school feeding programme from which Isiolo also benefits.

He said Isiolo will also benefit from projects to be undertaken by the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy through the Northern Rangeland Trust that runs six community-based wildlife sanctuaries in the county. He noted that Lewa has an office in Toronto.