NADCO team seeks to drop idle tag after meeting President

National Dialogue Committee chairperson Agnes Zani. [File, Standard]

The committee tasked with overseeing implementation of 10-point agenda and the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report (COIN-10) has come out to defend itself against claims that it does not have the political goodwill and funds to undertake the task.

Critics say the committee was never funded after its creation by President William Ruto and the now deceased ODM leader Raila Odinga and had been largely dormant until it re-emerged last week to meet Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.

Members of the committee, however, on Thursday defended themselves against allegations of dragging their feet, saying they have covered a wide scope of issues to achieve the right output.

The committee, chaired by former Senator Agnes Zani, fought off claims of ‘being idle’ and ‘lack of political goodwill’ and explained that it has had meetings with Cabinet Secretaries, State departments, government agencies and constitutional commissions.

Zani said the committee has also human rights bodies and civil society organizations and it is kick-starting the public participation process.

This comes against the backdrop of accusations of little progress since establishment five months ago, sparking political skepticism on the committee’s ability to deliver its report, which is expected to be handed over on March 7.

Reports have also indicated that the committee did not have proper facilities to undertake the task, apart from facing funding challenges and political goodwill to undertake the mandate.

As the committee announced the itinerary of their engagements starting February 4, 2025, questions have also been raised on the delay of the public participation process and only being undertaken at the tail end, just about a month to the end of their term.

But yesterday, just a day after they met President William Ruto, the Zani-led team defended its mandate saying a lot has been happening at the back-end and they now have a matrix for engagement along the 10-point agenda and NADCO report.

Committee vice chairperson Javas Bigambo said that, with their itinerary now public, it is clear that it has been engaging all stakeholders as it is supposed to and will extensively include public opinion.