A meeting between Kakamega County Government and staff from KWS, NEMA and UNDP, January 4, 2018. [Photo|Governor Oparanya]Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya hosted staff from KWS, NEMA and UNDP to establish a road map on accessing and ensuring benefit sharing agreements on utilization of indigenous genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.The forum introduced MANE, a company interested in accessing and utilizing several tonnes of Mondia whytei (Mukombera) found in Kakamega Forest and grown locally.The major goal was to understand the preparedness of the stakeholders on the process of prior informed consent and status of Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) between resource providers - Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), County Government of Kakamega and local community established legal entity and the investor (MANE company and JKUAT University). "The County is tasked with establishing and building local community legal entities to negotiate on fair terms benefits in form of monetary and non-monetary values," said Oparanya on Thursday.Water, Environment and Natural Resources CeC Robert Sumbi and staff from the department also participated in the discussions.

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