AM THE RIGHT CANDIDATE FOR KISUMU CENTRAL, PROCLAIMS FARIDA

By Maurice Alal, reporting from Kenya

As the race for the newly created Kisumu Central Constituency gets hotter, former lecturer at Kisumu Polytechnic College Mrs. Farida Salim has today declared her interest in the parliamentary seat.

She said that it was high time that women need to show leadership capacity in addressing the plight of women and youths who have been marginalized for a long time when it comes to leadership.

Farida who hails from Islamic community said she was the right candidate with policies which will address the problems faced by Kisumu Central residents alongside development of the region.

However, she revealed that her agenda included food security through agriculture, education, health, security and women and youth empowerment top improve their income as stipulated in constitution.

The former lecturer said Kisumu County imports all its food from other regions yet it has abundant resources saying if elected the area MP, this will be not be witnessed, adding that Kisumu County looses millions of shillings everyday to other regions in this manner.


“We import cabbages, tomatoes and other vegetables from Central Kenya with milk, eggs, maize, beans and cereals imported from Rift valley,” Farida said adding this can be produced locally for consumption and export to improve income for the area residents.


While seeking votes for the seat, she said Kisumu County will produce its food and even export to other regions through irrigated agriculture by utilizing arable land and unlimited water from Lake Victoria.

Farida also assured the residents that she will address the issue of fish prices that has made fishers lose over Ksh. 40 million daily due to lack of market and exploitation by middlemen.


“The fishing industry will be developed by building landing beaches with cold storage and ice processor facilities to help the fisher folk get better returns from the export and local sale of the fish,” she said.


Farida however said she will put up a factory that will use water hyacinth to produce fertilizer, paper, furniture and ceiling boards for housing sector. This will also curb cases of the noxious plant paralyzing fishing activities in Lake Victoria.

To address unemployment among the youth, she promised talent development, reviving collapsed industries and creating new ones, supporting youth and women groups in economic ventures through agribusiness.


She promised to improve service delivery in public and private hospitals by equipping the existence and constructing the new ones to improve accessibility.


Farida said that she will also improve the quality of education in the region by putting up measures that will boost the performance of every child especially the poor.

On the issue of security, Kisumu has hit headlines in the media following the rate of insecurity which the former lecturer revealed was due to lack of jobs among the youth. She said youths need to be empowered by issuance of loans to enable them start various business activities.
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