Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru on Tuesday used her final State of the County Address to defend nine years in office, telling the county assembly that the county economy has grown by two-thirds and that maternal deaths have almost halved since she took power.

Waiguru, who is serving her second and last term, said the county's Gross County Product rose from Sh114.9 billion in 2017 to Sh190.79 billion in 2025, a 66 per cent increase. She put Kirinyaga's growth rate last year at 8.7 per cent, above the national rate of about six per cent.

"Today, we can proudly say that Kirinyaga has undergone remarkable transformation," she told MCAs, according to KBC.

Farm output and revenue

Agriculture, which Waiguru said makes up about 42 per cent of the county economy and supports 87 per cent of residents, took up much of the speech. Figures she presented, reported by KBC and The Star, include:

  • Rice: up from 65,000 to 210,000 metric tonnes a year, worth about Sh16 billion to farmers.
  • Tomatoes: up from 46,000 to 116,000 tonnes, worth an estimated Sh6.9 billion a year.
  • Coffee: up from 28,000 to 49,100 tonnes, with record sales of Sh7.48 billion in 2025/26.
  • Milk: average yield per cow up from 2.5 to about eight litres a day.

She said own-source revenue rose from Sh344.4 million in 2017/18 to Sh1.11 billion in 2025/26.

Health, water and industry

Waiguru said maternal mortality fell from 88 to 49 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2017 and 2026, and that the county's poverty rate now stands at 21 per cent. She listed the Kerugoya County Referral Hospital complex, completed in 2023, and new complexes at Kianyaga, Kimbimbi and Sagana that are set to raise those facilities to Level 4.

More than 50,000 additional households have been connected to clean water, she said, and about 30 markets and aggregation centres have been built. Sagana Industrial City has so far created over 2,650 jobs, with two investors in tomato and avocado processing already delivering machinery, while 487 affordable housing units are under construction.

Eight months to go

The governor, whose name has featured in national politics as a possible deputy presidential candidate, said she would not slow down before the 2027 General Election. "We still have eight months ahead of us," she said, adding that "development is too important to be interrupted" and promising: "We will finish strong."

The figures are the governor's own and have not yet been independently audited.

Photos: KBC Digital; The Star. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.