Kenya’s President applauds Zoomlion

The Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, on Wednesday, August 13, unveiled an ambitious plan to transform Kenya’s waste management landscape and create over 52,000 jobs annually.

According to him, this will involve a clustering operation into regional counties by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of (JGC), to facilitate effective and efficient waste management across Kenya.

“With a population of about 57 million generating approximately 28,000 tonnes of waste daily, we propose clustering operations into regional counties—so that about five counties will share one integrated waste facility. It may interest you to know that about 52,000 jobs can be created annually through the establishment of waste management treatment plants, like we have done in Ghana,” Dr. Agyepong stressed.

The clustering of Kenyan counties strategy revealed by the Jospong Group Executive Chairman was widely applauded at the 9th edition of the Kenya Devolution Conference 2025 (DevCon2025), hosted in Homa Bay County.

He said the clustering of the counties would further generate 30,000 jobs from waste collection, transportation, and sweeping; 21,000 jobs from integrated waste management plant operations; and 1,800 jobs from green initiatives, data collection, monitoring, and validation within the carbon market.

Dr. Agyepong stressed the need for Kenya to harness the potential of Zoomlion’s operations in Ghana, adding that “Together, Ghana and Kenya can build and sustain efficient waste management systems within counties.”

He noted that there was no such thing as “waste”—”only misplaced resources, adding that “Let us recover and recycle them for the benefit of our people.”

“Today, I am confident that by 2027, Jospong will be able to present clear evidence of plants installed across all participating countries,” he said.

Dr. Agyepong concluded his address with a 2-minute video from Zoomlion Ghana Limited, and as the video ended, the auditorium erupted in applause from the delegates.

Organised by the Council of Governors, the DevCon2025 brought together over 11,000 delegates, including government officials, county governors, development partners, the private sector, civil society, and international stakeholders.
Among the distinguished attendees were the President of Kenya, Dr. William Samoei Ruto; all 47 county governors; members of the county assemblies; and the Senate, among *others.

The four-day conference (August 12 – 15, 2025), themed: “For the People, For Prosperity: Devolution as a Catalyst for Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice,” aims to examine devolution’s role in realising equity, inclusion, and social justice in Kenya.

It also has the sub-theme: “Reengineering County Governments to Accelerate Development and Close the Socio-Economic Divide.”

This was the first time a West African conglomerate, specifically the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) from Ghana, was participating in Kenya’s Devolution Conference.

Opening the DevCon2025, President Ruto emphasised that devolution has been transformative, fostered equity, and enhanced empowerment, enabling communities, women, and youth to participate meaningfully in the development of Kenya.

He disclosed that the Kenyan government, through the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry, was preparing investment procedures for key priority counties.

“These will serve as strategic tools to highlight opportunities, showcase value propositions, and support investor engagement—both locally in our counties and internationally,” he said.

“We have already complemented this initiative with four sector packages: legal, business process outsourcing, mobility, and textiles. By supporting end-to-end value chain ecosystems, we will increase local incomes, enhance food security, create jobs for our young people, and position our counties as leading exporters,” he added.

To unlock the full potential of devolution, President Ruto called for the need to strengthen capacity in the counties by building skilled expertise and employing the technology needed for effective service delivery.

“We may not have all the resources we desire, but we have enough to deliver meaningful services to our people. Our greatest challenge is not the inadequacy of resources, but how we utilise the ones we have,” he said.

On corruption, the President called for an all-hands-on-deck approach to fighting it.
“The fight against corruption must be our hallmark. I urge the judiciary not to become a haven where corruption hides. In Kenya today, we have a dangerous trend where someone can steal from public coffers and walk away scot-free—and this is taking us backwards,” he urged.

Earlier, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Kenya, Henrietta Geiger, called for a paradigm shift in the devolution conversation towards delivery, adding that devolved governments can only succeed if there is transparency and accountability.

“As devolution evolves, focus must shift to delivery. Devolved governments succeed with accountable and transparent institutions,” she said.

Devolution, she went on to state, must not be only at the central level, stating that “Kenya is not just Nairobi, but its benefits must flow to every county and community.”

According to her, the biggest government transformation will be bringing government closer to the people, responding to their needs for visible impacts.

She asked that citizens be actively involved in the whole devolution and decentralisation process.

Ambassador Geiger, therefore, commended the Council of Governors and the County Governors for driving Kenya’s devolution journey, assuring that the EU will continue to partners and support Kenya in its development agenda.

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