Kitui Partners with Tourism Ministry to Set Up Utalii Campus, Rhino Sanctuary

rich MoU

Kitui County Government under Governor Julius Malombe has found favour with the National Government and other development partners due to the transparent manner it is executing its programmes.

This level of trust has seen development partners troop to the County with goodies which are meant to benefit the local residents. 

The latest entrant is the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife which on Friday inked a partnership with the County Government to set up a campus for Utalii College and a Rhino sanctuary in the county. 

Addressing the media soon after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry and the County Government, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said that the efforts are geared towards revamping the regional tourism and generating revenue for Kitui County while upping the stakes for the country as an attractive tourism destination.

The rhino sanctuary to be managed by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will be set up at South Kitui National Game Reserve while the Utalii campus will be located a few kilometres in the outskirts of Kitui town.

Signing the partnership 

CS Mutua noted that the college will offer opportunities for local youths to be trained on tourism management and acquire skills that will enable them land jobs both locally and internationally.

He said that he will dispatch a technical team from his ministry to assess a piece of land which has been donated by the county government for construction of the Utalii campus. This will pave way for ground breaking that will be done before August this year, Mutua said.  

On the rhino sanctuary, the CS said it will raise the stakes of local tourism, where his ministry is set to construct five dams next to wildlife protection areas to provide water for both wildlife and livestock as well as nearby communities.

“Tourism is a low hanging fruit and we need to take advantage of this to create jobs for Kenyans while at the same time generating revenue for the country,” CS Mutua said.

Mutua lauded Kitui county for creating a rich tourism circuit which he said will be connected to Taita Taveta, Makueni and Machakos, to create a regional tourism circuit that will be advertised globally.

He urged locals with vast tracts of idle land to convert them to wildlife conservancies. 

On the newly completed Mutomo reptile park in Kitui South, CS Mutua revealed that the joint partnership will see a snake venom research Centre established in the region.

The Centre will among other things research on snake species found in Kitui and other arid lands and produce anti venom to be used both locally and elsewhere in the country where snake bites are common. 

Governor Malombe noted that the tarmacking of Kibwezi – Kitui road has made it convenient for tourists visiting local tourist sites such as Tsavo East National Park which connects to South Kitui National Reserve, the Reptile Park and the mystic Nzambani rock.

Other tourist sites in the county include the scenic Ikoo valley as well as Mumoni and Mutitu bird watching areas which are famed for rare species of birds.

Malombe stated that the collaboration between his administration and the ministry will create job opportunities for wildlife rangers who will be employed by the county but trained by KWS.

“Our partnership with the ministry of tourism heralds a new dawn which is meant to exploit the full tourism potential for our county. This will create a revenue stream for the county and offer jobs to locals,” explained the Governor.