Kisumu Governor His Excellency Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o today received and held discussions with the Mayor of Gersthofen, His Excellency Michael Worle who paid him a courtesy call at his City Hall office.
Mr. Worle is in Kisumu to explore twinning partnerships with Kisumu following a successful similar venture with Baringo County.
Governor Nyong’o expressed his excitement at the prospect of sharing sub national experiences with Gersthofen from the State of Bavaria in Germany.
“We are looking forward to sharing experiences while tapping into German models to help Kisumu grow into an economically resilient county that provides quality livability conditions”, said the Governor.
“In this decade of action in the implementation of United Nations Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals and the need world working to foster better response strategies to climate change, this journey we are embarking on wouldn’t have come at more opportune time”, said Governor Nyong’o.
Mr. Worle said that it has become more necessary than ever before for Local governments and cities to work together at their levels even as the states and national governments work to create a more robust environment for development at the international level.
The sister local governments expressed their desire to work together in the delivery of services around Climate Partnership and collaboration; Cooperation at the Municipal level; Water supply via provision of Solar-powered pumping station and high tank for water storage to ECDE Schools; Sustainable Green energy strategies to reduce Co2 emission; Strengthening Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) within Kisumu County via infrastructural support; Capacity Building and technological exchange between schools in Gersthofen and Kisumu County; Investment opportunities in the areas of the Blue Economy and supporting Kisumu City to implement Smart city solutions.
“We need to work on strategies that improve how we manage our solid waste in a more productive manner expand water and sanitation services, improve on disaster preparedness and response and reduce carbon footprint”, said Mr. Worle.
He underscored the need to work on Long-term partnerships (not sponsorships) which are the basis for sustainable cooperation between Germany/Bavaria and Kenya, focus on Regional village projects which are more impactful on the local communities, invest in Climate, CO2 and H2O projects which offer enormous potential, Leveraging on German experiences as the world market leader for environmental technology for technology transfer and market access and exchange Municipal know-how which is crucial and irreplaceable for sustainable urban growth.
The two leaders committed to consummate the partnership through an actionable twinning MOU.