11/12/2025
Kilifi Governor Gideon Maitha Mung’aro has painted a picture of a county on the rise, citing stronger revenue collection, expanded health services, improved water access, upgraded roads and new affordable housing projects.
Delivering his 2025 State of the County Address at the County Assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Mung’aro said Kilifi had recorded growth across all sectors in the three years his administration had been in charge.
He said that Own Source Revenue had risen steadily, from Sh1.003 billion in 2022/2023 to Sh1.209 billion in 2023/2024, and further to Sh1.513 billion in 2024/2025, representing growth rates of 20.4 percent and 25.2 percent respectively.
The county now targets Sh1.875 billion in the current financial year, a projected 24 percent increase.
To safeguard collections, the Governor announced plans to install security cameras at all revenue points.
In the health sector, governor Mung’aro said collections had grown from under Sh100 million to more than Sh550 million annually, noting that this had been driven by digitisation and automation of hospital systems.
He said the county administration had renovated 21 health facilities, opened new dispensaries, promoted 957 health workers and hired 191 new staff and that HIV prevalence had dropped from 3.5 percent in 2022 to 2.5 percent in 2024, with 94 percent of patients now on ARVs.
Mr. Mung’aro said that water coverage had improved from 65 percent in 2022 to 69 percent in 2025, supported by 744 kilometres of pipeline, 49 boreholes and 12 water pans. However, the Governor noted that supply remains constrained as main sources cannot meet rising demand.
On housing, 1,200 affordable units are under construction, with 400 already completed and occupied, aligning Kilifi with the national housing agenda.
In his two-hour address, Mung’aro said the education sector in the county had seen notable progress, with 2,122 students benefiting from full scholarships to national schools, and a school feeding programme raising enrolment from 46,938 learners in 2023/2024 to 57,802 in 2025.
He said that the county had also invested in early childhood education, training 1,100 ECDE teachers and equipping 406 centres with digital devices.
He said vocational training centres had been expanded, with over 2,900 graduates in 2024 and new ICT labs established under the KEMFSED programme.
He said that tourism and trade have equally advanced, noting that Kilifi now hosts 32 fully developed markets, while the 2024 Kilifi Investment Conference unlocked over USD 1.1 billion in capital flow.
He noted that the county showcased itself at nine major tourism fairs, hosted cultural festivals such as Mekatilili wa Menza, and welcomed international events like the Uganda-Kenya Coast Tourism Conference and the Essence of Africa Conference in Malindi.
