Give us more work, governors plead

By KARANJA NJOROGE

County Governments in the South Rift region want the Transitional Authority (TA) to transfer more functions to them saying they have the capacity to handle more responsibility.

During a meeting with the Senators’ Forum in Nakuru, they said for devolution to work, the TA should transfer more functions including roads and agriculture to the counties.

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi said counties that feel aggrieved over the transfer of functions have the right to appeal under the law.

 “The Senate is the custodian and protector of the counties and there is no way we can allow devolution not to work,” the Baringo senator said.

County executive teams that appeared before the Senate team were Bomet, Kericho, Narok and Nakuru.

“In our session with Bomet, the county felt that some of the functions including agriculture and roads should be transferred to them,” Mr Moi who chaired the session said.

Moi said after the hearings, the team would submit a report to the Senate devolution committee, which would later be tabled before the whole House.

The Senate team also included Charles Keter (Kericho), James Mungai (Nakuru), and nominated senators Benson Njoroge, Martha Wangari and Liz Chelule. 

The team was informed that some of the functions, which were transferred to the counties had transformed life in the rural areas.

“In Bomet, residents have witnessed some projects which have never been undertaken in the last 50 years being implemented by the county government,” said Samuel Keter.

Interactive forums

The officer urged the Senate to organise more interactive forums with county governments and the public to ensure devolution is successful.  

Senators called on the TA to expedite the process of auditing county assets before working out how they should be shared between the national and county governments.

“How do you develop a mechanism of sharing without having an audit carried out first?” posed  Senator Wangari.

The TA said county governments can enter into an agreement with the national government to be allowed to undertake some of the functions they feel they can handle.