Laikipia County Governor H.E Joshua Irungu on Thursday, 17th April 2025 officiated an accreditation drive for skilled construction workers and construction site supervisors at the County Hall, Nanyuki, Laikipia County. The drive saw 60 workers receive their NCA accreditation cards, and many more commence the registration process towards full accreditation.

Speaking during the exercise, the Governor expressed his gratitude to the Authority for engaging county residents at grassroot level, and availing the resources to empower the workers through accreditation. “Accreditation and upskilling of our workers is key to ensuring construction is streamlined. Construction workers are a critical part of the industry value chain, but are often overlooked and not prioritised. Today’s exercise is a demonstration of the value we place on the construction workers in the county.”

“We are constructing a Kes. 380 million market in the county, among many other projects including Affordable Housing, and we now have full confidence that our workers are up to the task. We will in the end have outstanding projects,” he said.

The accreditation drive was part of a three-day engagement in the county, which was anchored on sensitisation and training of the National Building Code 2024. The engagements took place across the towns of Nanyuki, Rumuruti and Nyahururu.

On Tuesday, 15th April 2025, the Authority held a training for officials from the Laikipia County Government on the Code. The officials were drawn from all technical departments within the county. The Authority’s delegation was led by Public Works Principal Secretary Mr. Joel Arumonyang, CBS, NCA Board Chair Ms. Mercy Okiro and NCA Executive Director Eng. Maurice Akech, MBS.

Laikipia County Deputy Governor H.E Reuben Kamuri hosted the team at the County Hall, Nanyuki, in an interactive session that saw the county renew its commitment towards full implementation of the Code.

The week’s activities are a follow up from a meeting Governor Irungu held with the Authority’s Board on 14th March, 2025. During the meeting, the team discussed areas of collaboration, including training programmes and joint quality audits, all which are to be enshrined in a Memorandum of Understanding, the first of its kind between a state agency and a county government.

Speaking during the Tuesday training of county officials, PS Arumonyang noted that counties play a critical role in bringing order to the construction industry, and all professionals are expected to take up their roles with due seriousness. “Development control is in the hands of the county, and if this is done as prescribed in the Code, the industry will flourish.

NCA Board Chair Mercy Okiro, born and raised in Laikipia, expressed her pride in seeing her county of birth lead the way in compliance and uptake of the National Building Code. “The Governor in our previous meeting promised to lead the way when it comes to embracing the Building Code, and true to his word, we have been able to train the entire value chain in the County, from county officials to contractors and construction workers. We look forward to replicating this in other counties across the country.”

Speaking during the training for contractors on Wednesday, 16th April 2025, the Deputy Governor H.E. Reuben Kamuri noted that the Building Code signalled a new dawn. “We now know it’s not business as usual with how the County is run, and that there are new regulations that we need to align with. We understand that the Building Code has structured everything from approvals to demolitions, which means we must also fully resource our county to ensure we have the right personnel to implements.”

NCA Executive Director Eng. Maurice Akech, MBS, expressed his gratitude to Laikipia County for hosting the Authority for the three days, and looked forward to the signing of the memorandum of understanding. He also promised to look into the possibility of establishing an NCA office in Nanyuki town, to better serve the county. Laikipia is currently served by the Mt. Kenya Regional Office, headquartered in Nyeri Town.