As thousands of delegates descended on the annual devolution conference in Kakamega County to share ideas and have a good time, one county was missing in action.
Elgeyo Marakwet County skipped the forum, with the governor, county executive committee members (CECs), Members of County Assemby (MCas) and other would be delegates watching events on their TV screens.
According to a section of county officials, the executive failed to pay facilitation fee, forcing them to skip the conference. The county did not remit Sh2 million due from each of the 47 devolved units and payable to the Council of Governors, the officials revealed.
Lawi Kibire, an MCA, expressed outrage and accused the county government of failing to pay the subscription fees to the organisers of the annual event.
“It is a shame that out of all the counties, we are the only ones who did not attend. Does it mean the governor does not have goodwill when it comes to devolution? He should come clear on the matter and inform the public why we did not represent them,” he said.
County Speaker Philemon Sabulei confirmed that no one from the county government was at the conference addressed by among others President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
“It became clear that we will not attend the conference when we engaged the executive to confirm on the details of where we will be hosted in Kakamega and we were told that it will be impossible for the county to pay the required fees,” said the speaker.
Isaac Kamar, the Finance CEC, said no one from the executive turned up at the event
“No one from the executive attended the event,” said Mr Kamar, who referred further queries to Governor Alex Tolgos.
County officials said their failure to attend denied them a chance to market the county.
“It would have been a good platform where as a county we would have shared devolution strides and challenges with our peers,” said Kibire.
Governor Tolgos was not available for comment.
