Wanga champions Homa Bay’s rise as devolution’s success story
Homa Bay County Governor Gladys Wanga has lauded the county’s rapid development over the past three years, crediting strong collaboration with the national government for turning the once little-known region into a model of devolution success.
Speaking on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, during the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, Wanga said most of the county’s visible progress has taken place since President William Ruto took office.
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“I’m taking the opportunity to thank you immensely for your partnership to transform Homa Bay County to make it a county that could host this Devolution Conference,” she told the President.
Adding;
“And most of the development in this county has happened in the last three years. When you first visited Homa Bay on January 16, 2023, three-quarters of the development we are seeing here has been done under this government.”
She singled out major infrastructure improvements as evidence of this transformation.
“The dualling of the highway in this county is something we could have dreamt of. All the roads and infrastructure we have seen in this country are because of the partnership with the national government. The transformation at the lakefront is because of the partnership with the national government,” she said.
Describing Homa Bay as a model of devolution’s potential, Wanga said the county had moved from being a little-known county at ‘Mwisho wa Lami’ to hosting the 2025 Devolution Conference.
“This is the story we want for all our counties and for Kenya,” she stated.
Cape Town standards
Her remarks come a day after she unveiled an ambitious plan to position Homa Bay as a premier tourism and investment destination, inspired by Cape Town, South Africa.
“We are hoping to be the Cape Town of Kenya because we have the longest stretch of Lake Victoria,” Wanga said during an interview on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
“Eighty per cent of Lake Victoria is in Homa Bay County, so we have the longest stretch of the beach.”
She outlined a decade-long vision to upgrade Homa Bay’s urban profile to city status.
“In another 10 years, we hope to be the city we are modelling after Cape Town as a city,” she said.
Part of the plan involves relocating government offices from the lakefront to higher ground, paving the way for high-end hospitality and tourism infrastructure along the shore.
“Along the lake front, there were government offices, a small office carrying approximately 30 people sitting in 7 acres of land; the rest of the land has broken-down vehicles,” Wanga explained.
