Governors handed more powers after State House talks

County governments will take over the running of health, transport, agriculture and tourism in their areas starting from next month, it was agreed on Wednesday.

President Kenyatta directed that counties take over all functions outlined in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution from July 1. He gave the order during the first governors’ summit held at State House, Nairobi.

Mr Kenyatta also directed the Transition Authority chairman, Mr Kinuthia Wamwangi, to oversee the transfer of the functions in line with the Constitution during the Summit also attended by Deputy President William Ruto.

“We have agreed that all functions under Schedule Four that belong to county governments be transferred to the counties from July 1,” Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, who chairs the Governors’ Caucus, said.

“These include the provision of health, water, transport, agricultural, forestry services as well as land and survey, tourism and fisheries”.

County governments will also inherit machinery and equipment, which previously belonged to the department of Public Works like graders to maintain roads within the counties.

President Kenyatta also yielded to a request from the governors to be issued with diplomatic passports and special number plates for their official vehicles.

Maintaining that his government was committed to implementing devolution, he said that a committee to look into challenges facing county governments was already in place and that action is being taken on its recommendations.

“We have already given instructions to all concerned institutions to ensure that devolution is implemented as per the 4th Schedule of the Constitution,” he said.

The Transitional Authority will issue the functions to be transferred as devolution begins to roll out with the allocation of Sh210 billion to the counties in the 2013/2014 Budget.

Last week, the Commission on Implementation of the Constitution released an advisory on how functions from the national to county governments should be handed over.

The Head of State said all functions to be performed by county governments should be devolved immediately.

“The commitment to the process of devolution is both personal and constitutional. The two levels of government were a desire of the people of Kenya and thus we must be fully committed to the success of devolution,” he said.

Governors and Senators had last week vowed to collect a million signatures in a push to amend the Constitution after Mr Kenyatta assented into the Division of Revenue Allocation Bill, which was opposed by the leaders as they pushed for an allocation of Sh258 billion for counties.

They have also been calling for the release of functions from national government to the counties.

Mr Kenyatta said that teething problems affecting devolution should be tackled accordingly and assured the leaders that the national government would look into the funding issue.

Earlier, the county chiefs had called on Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero at his City Hall office where they drew up part of the agenda for their meeting with the President.

“We are here for a pre-summit meeting. The main reason of this meeting is the transfer of functions from national to county establishment,” Mr Ruto said.

He said devolution would only have a strong foundation if it is given the requisite support by both Parliament and the Executive arms of government.

“The expectation of Kenyans is so high and we cannot afford to disappoint them. We must work together to realise benefits of devolution,” he said.

Last week, CIC chairman Charles Nyachae, in a paid-up advert, supported the push by governors for full transfer of functions, but Mr Wamwangi said it would be catastrophic to give devolved units responsibilities that they are not prepared for.

Additional reporting Justus Wanga