The Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry has launched a compliance monitoring exercise for the County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) programme.

The review will cover procurement, financial management, and governance across 34 industrial parks currently under development throughout Kenya.

The exercise, conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), will assess systems, procedures, and practices related to project implementation.

Its objective is to identify weaknesses that could expose the programme to financial or operational risks and to provide recommendations for strengthening institutional controls.

In a statement on Thursday, Principal Secretary for the State Department of Industry Juma Mukhwana said the exercise will focus on ensuring that county governments comply with legal, financial, and governance frameworks in implementing the programme.

"The initiative aims to strengthen transparency, accountability and proper utilisation of public resources committed to the programme, which is a key intervention in advancing Kenya's industrialisation agenda," the statement read in part.

"Currently, thirty-four (34) County Aggregation and Industrial Parks are under development across the country, with counties at varying stages of completion."

The CAIPs programme is designed to accelerate agro-processing by facilitating aggregation, storage, processing, and value addition of agricultural produce at the county level. The initiative forms part of Kenya’s Vision 2030 development blueprint and aligns with the Government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which prioritises agriculture and manufacturing as key drivers of economic growth, job creation, and export earnings.

The programme is jointly implemented by the national government and county governments. Each county is allocated Sh250 million from the national government for industrial park development, with matching funds provided by the counties.

To date, the National Government has disbursed Sh4.052 billion, with ten counties having received the full allocation.

For the 2025/2026 financial year, Sh4.448 billion has been earmarked for the programme, and the first tranche of Sh2.224 billion has already been released to 24 counties.

Once completed, the parks are expected to reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen agricultural value chains, attract investment into agro-processing industries, and create employment opportunities. The Ministry emphasised that the compliance exercise will help ensure adherence to legal and financial regulations and strengthen institutional systems before the parks become operational.

The monitoring exercise will review systems, procedures, and practices to ensure proper resource management and compliance with procurement and governance standards. It will provide guidance to county governments to improve project implementation and safeguard public funds.