Former Planning Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera has advised President William Ruto’s administration to prioritise mordernising Kisumu as a port city.

Speaking on Wednesday, March 25 morning, Nyakera said that a mordern and efficient Kisumu Port will be a game-changer for the economy of not just Nyanza region, but the country at large.

Nyakera exuded support for the completing of the Naivasha to Kisumu rail link as a key step to connecting the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to Lake Victoria, a move he says will unlock regional trade.

Yet Nyakera, who has since declared his bid for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat in 2027, was quick to fault the government’s decision to extend the SGR from Kisumu to Malaba border town.

“However, SGR already passes through about eight counties from Mombasa to Naivasha, yet the economic activity envisioned around those stations has not been fully realized,” he pointed out. “The vision was never just a railway, but a logistics and industrial corridor, so the priority now should be utilization, integration, and real value creation at county level.”

Accordingly, Nyakera advised that instead of the government rushing to extend the SGR from Kisumu to Malaba, they should instead focus on developing the Port of Kisumu, and moving cargo across Lake Victoria into Uganda and beyond.

“This approach is faster, more practical, and aligned with existing trade flows, while investing about 170 billion shillings into the Malaba extension without firm regional alignment risks building ahead of demand,” he added.

Instead of spending approximately KSh170 billion on extending SGR to Malaba, Nyakera said the government could accelerate the LAPSSET corridor by completing the Lamu-Ijara-Garissa-Isiolo Road, roughly 500 kilometres.

This LAPSSET corridor, he said, will open up northern Kenya and drive trade, jobs, and GDP growth across underserved regions.