NAIVASHA, Kenya, Feb 7 – Principal Secretary in the State Department of Devolution in the State Office of the Deputy President, Teresia Mbaika Malokwe, has assured of Government commitment to the continued collaboration with the County Governments, to ensure Devolved Unity are able to perform their functions more effectively and to the satisfaction of the citizens.
Malokwe observed that the successes achieved by Counties is significantly attributed to the support of its programs coordinated by the National Government.
The PS further said the National Government will continue to strengthen the coordination and stakeholder involvement towards providing well-coordinated support to County Governments, in line with its mandate as stated in the Constitution.
The remarks were contained in a presentation to the members done on her behalf by Director in the State Department of Devolution, Mr. Patrick Karanja, during an induction and work planning retreat for the Senate Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations in Naivasha, Monday.
The theme of the retreat is; stakeholder Consultations and Opportunities for Collaboration and Cooperation.
The PS noted that implementation of devolution has to a large extent been successful as powers and most functions assigned to County Governments have so far been transferred.
“The State Department will therefore continue to: strengthen mechanisms for intergovernmental relations by progressively develop/review policies and legislation for devolved governance, coordinate support to county capacity development and technical assistance facilitate the work of all intergovernmental organs and processes for a better Kenya through Bottom-up economic model as per the Kenya Kwanza Government manifesto,” Malokwe stated.
She noted that inadequate funding to the Sector and the State Department and its institutions and inadequate mechanisms for coordinationof development-partner support to Counties, had led to uneven distribution of resources, and provided a fertile ground for possible misapplication of County revenues and resources.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Devolution has voiced concern over the huge pending bills in the counties, which they said was hindering service delivery to wananchi.
The Committee led by its Chair; Mohammed Abass Sheikh, said some of the bills have been pending for over five years, thus negatively affecting businesses of those involved and service delivery to the public.
Abass who is also the Senator for Wajir, said the Committee plans to carry out an audit of the bills to establish the correct position.
“The National Government budgeted for the payment of these pending bills, we plan to carry out an audit of the bills to establish the current correct position and to find out why many of them have not been paid,” the Senator said.
An audit by the Office of the Auditor General done earlier last year had found that counties owed a total of Sh156. 19 billion in pending bills, with Nairobi leading the pack with Sh100 billion. Out of the over Shs.156billion owed, Shs.48. 1billion was verified for payment while the remaining Sh.108 having audit queries. Out of the approved amount, the counties had so far paid only Sh.23Billion by January this year.
The Devolution Committee Chair said they will also audit devolved functions, to establish how they have been performed by the counties for the last five years and those that are yet to be devolved, in order to find a way of having them devolved as required by the Constitution.
“There are also issues of boundaries between some of the counties and wrangles over county headquarter location in Tharaka Nithi to be specific, and we have to resolve all these because the two levels of Government have to work together,” Abass said.
Vice Chair of the Committee, Ms. Catherine Mumma, who is a nominated Senator, said they will also be visiting various counties where there are issues between the County Assembly and the Executive, with a view to try and resolve them for smooth running of the counties.
She said 10 years down the line, counties had come of age and they want to leverage on the goodwill of the Government and work with other stakeholders to ensure devolution works.
Mumma said they will also be auditing the City Counties and other urban areas that have been set up in the recent past, to ensure that they are adhering to the Urban Planning Act in terms of spatial planning, infrastructure of these urban areas and cities among other issues.
“We realize the four cities and urban areas are experiencing unique problems, which need to be addressed,” Mumma said.
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