There has been heated debate on the devolution of health services with a number of leaders agitating for it to be handed back to the national government/FILE
There has been heated debate on the devolution of health services with a number of leaders agitating for it to be handed back to the national government.
Speaking to Capital FM News on the sidelines of a daylong meeting between governors and their deputies, the council’s vice-chairman Salim Mvurya however indicated that such a move would be retrogressive.
“There is an agitation to take health back to the national government. It is those kinds of discussions and outlook that put devolution on reverse gear. It is also what prompts this kind of consultation,” he said.
The meeting also discussed the need for all county governments to improve reports of how they are spending monies allocated to them by the national government.
“We are basically looking at all the issues including reporting. How we do our reports as the Council of Governors and as county governments; remember we are supposed to be giving our reports at the end of every year,” Mvurya stated.
He further explained that during the meeting, issues of cohesion between governors and their deputies was also discussed and ways in which the two can cooperation in the dispensation of their duties.
“It is just a consultative meeting between governors and their deputies looking at the different issues challenging devolution and also to how we move forward as counties and teams,” he said.
The forum was also expected to bridge differences emerging between them and to strategise on how to ward off anti-devolution campaigns.
The county bosses were seeking to forge unity, mend their differences and rally a common voice in terms of the threats, challenges and successes witnessed in the last one year.
The Deputy Governors Forum has in the past written to the Council of Governors protesting their exclusion from meetings held by the Council of Governors.
The Council of Governors is mandated to undertake consultation amongst county governments while sharing information on the performance of the counties.
It is further expected to consider matters of common interest to county governments and resolve disputes between counties within the framework provided under law.
It also needs to facilitate capacity building for governors and receive reports and monitor the implementation of inter-county agreements on inter-county projects.
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