Machakos leather park idea keeps Kenyan government hopeful
A senior figure in the Kenyan government’s planning department, Saitoti Torome, has calculated that the country’s leather industry has the capacity to create 50,000 jobs and put more than $800 million per year in the country’s economy.
Mr Torome said in recent comments that the sector was suffering from a lack of raw materials and a shortage of skills, but he said a new leather manufacturing cluster in Machakos County in the south of the country could help give the leather industry a much needed boost.
The government has been working on the Machakos leather park idea since at least 2016. Its plan is to site 15 tanneries, waste treatment facilities and a substantial number (it has said as many as 200) footwear and leathergoods factories there. It will be jointly run by the Kenya Leather Development Council and the Export Processing Zones Authority.
He said Kenya currently is exporting 90% of its hides at the moment, either as raw hides or as wet blue.
