Peer review: Counties poor in controlling drugs and pornography

Nyeri governor Mutahi Kahiga addresses the media after meeting with NEPAD/APRM Kenya Secretariat led by the Chief Executive Officer, Amb. Dr Samori Okwiya at the latter's offices in Nyeri Town, on April 29, 2024.[Mose Sammy, Standard] Counties have acknowledged performance weakness in controlling drugs and pornography in their jurisdictions. It also decried the delayed disbursement of equitable shareable revenue to counties and also called for immediate transfer of remaining devolved functions by the national government. These were part of the 12 minutes agreed in the joint communique in the one-day National Summit of the County Peer Review Mechanism(CPRM) organised by the New Partnership for Africa's Development(NEPAD). The second summit, which was held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre(KICC) in Nairobi on Saturday, saw a delegation from 15 counties, including Nairobi, Murang'a, Turkana, Kwale, Kiambu, Samburu, Vihiga, and Uasin Gishu attend. Others were from Embu, Kitui, Meru, Laikipia, Mombasa, Kericho and Isiolo counties. "Acknowledgement of the cross-cutting weak performance in the control of drugs and pornography across the country and the need for concerted efforts between the counties and the relevant national state agencies to urgently address the sticky issues under this function," said the joint communique read by Amb. Dr. Samori Okwiya, CEO - NEPAD/APRM Kenya Secretariat. Dr Okwiya read the 12-minute communique on behalf of the Council of Governors (CoG). The summit, which was officially opened by Principal Secretary Economic Planning Dr. Bonface Makokha, acknowledged the enormous contribution made by the African Peer Reviews Mechanism(APRM) in the transformation of Kenya's governance system. It also acknowledged the NEPAD/APRM Kenya Secretariat's key achievements inthe facilitation of two comprehensive country reviews, a targeted review on eight key sectors, pioneering implementation of the National Governance Report, as well as the ongoing implementation of the CPRM across the country. The summit expressed concern over the continued delay of the disbursement of an equitable share of revenues as a cross-cutting challenge that requires urgent addressing by the National Treasury. It reiterated the need for the national government to transfer, immediately, the outstanding devolved functions as required under the 4th schedule of the constitution. The summit acknowledged that some countries are increasingly diversifying their agricultural production and thus creating new opportunities for agriculture-driven economic growth. "Acknowledgement that counties continue to generate best practices, which provide further opportunities for cross-learning, which is a key pillar of the peer-review mechanism," said Mbarire. She added: "All the participating Governors committed to sustaining good performance in the services identified by the citizens as being satisfactory and embraced criticisms from their colleagues and citizens regarding areas requiring improvements in terms of service delivery performance." The summit noted the national government's commitment to consider providing conditional grants to reward outstanding service delivery performance for each of the 14 devolved functions as rated by the local citizens. It also noted the proactive action by the national government in trying to address the youth issues by inviting a continental APRM Review Mission to undertake an independent Targeted Review that will also be presented at the next APRM summit of Heads of State and be implemented across the country. Finally, the summit noted the national government's commitment to enhance budgetary support to the CPRM process to facilitate coverage of the remaining 25 counties and the follow-up of implementation of the commitments made by the Governors. The PS urged the two Houses of Parliament, including the National Assembly and the County Assemblies, to adopt recommendations arising from the peer reviews and help in following up their implementation for the common good of the counties and the country in general. "These will also help us to continue generating best practices and opportunities for cross-learning with other APRM member states," said PS Makokha. Chairperson of the National Governing Council of the NEPAD/APRM Kenya Secretariat, Sospeter Ojamong, said his council is proud of what the institution has been able to achieve and continues to do, not only in peer reviews but also in other governance initiatives in the promotion of good governance. "Among the key milestones that make the APRM Kenya office stand out among the other 44 country offices across the continent are the facilitation of two comprehensive country reviews, a targeted review on eight broad sectors, as well as the cascading of the APRM to the subnational level," said Ojamong, former Busia County Governor. In 2017, he said Kenya became the first country to submit to a second comprehensive governance review and followed up this feat by pioneering the implementation of the National Governance Reporting framework in 2022. "Remarkably, last year, Kenya became the first country to facilitate sub-national peer reviews pitched at the level of Governors. All these are a demonstration of Kenya's commitment to the APRM as Africa's homegrown, multi-lateral mechanism for the promotion of good governance," he added. In last year's inaugural summit of the CPRM, he said 12 counties were peer rreviewedd and this year, a total of 10 counties are set to be peer reviewed during the summit. Chairperson of the CPRM Panel of Eminent Persons, Rtd Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, said in last year's summit, they also witnessed very good discussions that yielded actionable agreed minutes captured in a joint communique that was signed at the close of the summit. "The CPRM Panel is hopeful that both levels of government have endeavoured to implement the agreed minutes. Where we might not have made credible progress in implementation of the commitments, we appeal to the parties concerned to play their part with renewed vigour and focus," said Arch Wabukala. He added: "The Panel urges the Presidency to consider the recommendations in the joint communiques of the inaugural and the second national summit to implement, expeditiously, its share of actions. At the next Summi,t we hope to have covered the counties that are yet to be reviewed and consider progress reports from the counties that werpeer-revieweded during the inaugural summit." Arch Wabukala said the Panel continues to appeal for credible reviews and genuine engagements, followed by faithful implementation of the commitments made by the Governors, assisted by the national government.

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