The Speaker of the Senate Amason Kingi has urged the private sector to take advantage of opportunities presented by climate change.
Kingi called on the sector to explore the opportunities to promote climate adaptation and sustainable development in Kenya.
He was speaking during the official opening of the Speaker’s Roundtable engagement with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) in Mombasa on Wednesday.
Kingi highlighted the transformative potential of exploring climate change driven opportunities in renewable energy, the carbon market, and green construction.
“It is not in doubt that climate change has come with unprecedented challenges and impacts on the lives of our people,” Kingi said.
“However, in these challenges there are also numerous opportunities waiting to be exploited,” he added.
He urged KEPSA members to re-calibrate their business operations, tap into such emerging and help bolster Kenya's climate response while ensuring substantial returns on their investments.
"The private sector can play a pivotal role in our national agenda for wealth and employment creation, especially as we push towards the final stretch of Vision 2030," Kingi said.
Clerk of the Senate, Jeremiah Nyegenye acknowledged the private sector's role in governance and stressed the importance of the Senate-KEPSA partnership.
"The private sector plays an important role in the governance of this country," Nyegenye said.
He added: "It is my hope that at the end of this engagement, we will have bolstered our partnership to address emerging policies, legislation, and processes impacting the business environment in the counties."
He further stated that the Senate is considering legislation that is crucial to improving the business environment competitiveness at the county level to enable creation of wealth, jobs and inclusive prosperity.
KEPSA CEO, Carole Kariuki highlighted the achievements of the engagement and urged lawmakers to continue their support.
"KEPSA championed the Development of the own source revenue policy to address conflicting regulations on double taxation and multiplicity of charges across County Governments. The policy should be fully implemented to ease doing business at the sub-national level," Kariuki said.
Kariuki said the sessions aim to raise awareness of Parliament’s role in creating a conducive business environment and set the business legislative agenda.
They are also aimed to serve as an induction platform for new legislature and KEPSA members to foster a collaborative working relationship, she noted.
