Governor Joho flanked by his deputy Dr. Kingi (left) and other county officials addresses the consultation meeting.
Mombasa County Governor, Hassan Joho has opened talks with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in a move that will allow the County to tap into expertise and other technologies from the University.
Governor Joho said it was the practice of excelling cities to integrate the academia in development programmes.
Mombasa County has identified a number of key priority areas including value addition of agricultural products, tourism, water, climate change adaptation, blue economy, health and industrialization.
The county is also reeling from the effects of infrastructure development that has affected breeding grounds for fish; necessitating deep see fishing which is expensive for most fishermen.
Governor Joho also called on JKUAT to assist in building capacity of coast residents through skills upgrading in order to seize emerging opportunities within the county and beyond.
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mabel Imbuga informed the Governor that JKUAT was home to a number of innovations and technologies that could be tapped to create jobs and wealth for Mombasa residents.
Prof. Imbuga added that JKUAT was already implementing a number of research activities in the county including one on coconut value chain.
Prof Imbuga (right) makes a point during the meeting with Governor Joho
On the health front, the Vice chancellor noted that the university had trained 12 county health officers on data analysis and reporting, an initiative aimed at helping the county to make knowledge driven decisions and resource allocation in the healthcare sector.
The two officials who held talks on Friday April 20, 2018 in Mombasa also agreed to form a technical committee to expedite the engagements.
JKUAT runs a campus in Mombasa CBD where it offers undergraduate and post graduate programmes in areas such as technology, business, engineering, health, project management and community development, urban design, agriculture, and maritime operations and ICT.
The campus has twice been voted as the most preferred training institution in the coastal region under the auspices of the Mombasa Business Awards initiative.
The consultative meeting was also attended by Mombasa County Deputy Governor, Dr. William Kingi and a number of county executive committee members. The JKUAT team comprised college principals, divisional registrars and directors