We’ll ensure devolution succeeds, say governors

By Roselyne Obala and Tobias Chanji

Kwale, Kenya: Governors Thursday re-affirmed their commitment to ensure devolution succeeds.

They also asked the National Government to support county governments since they recognised by the Constitution.

They stressed that the supreme law recognises the existence of two levels of governments, pursuant to Chapter Two of the Constitution.

Council of Governors (CoG) chairman Isaac Ruto defended the devolution conference being held in Kwale saying the forum was meant review their progress, highlight challenges and brainstorm on the way forward.

Successes/failures

“Even the United States of America, which has had the devolved system of government for years, still organises annual conferences to deliberate on their success, failures and come up with resolutions,” he said.

Mandera Governor Ali Roba said Kenyans “should understand that devolution is a new system of government. We are not experts and therefore we need a forum like this to share ideas and learn from our mistakes.”

Mr Roba recalled that he had once urged Deputy President William Ruto to invoke the inter-governmental dispute resolutions mechanism to address the emerging challenges and differences with key institutions instead of resorting to other means that send mixed signals to Kenyans.

Reduce meetings

“Assessing the progress of devolution is key and very important, although we should equally reduce the number of meetings as not all require physical presence,” said Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki.

He urged county governments to come up with cheaper ways of undertaking the review programmes and not replicate wastage that has been witnessed in the National Government.

“We are not using any public funds. This meeting has been funded by our partners and sponsors,” said Ruto as he sought to set the record straight.

He said Kenya Private Sector Alliance and other sponsors met the cost of the event.