GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE: Counties locked out of Naivasha meeting

Many counties have been locked out of the fourth Annual Devolution Conference that began on Tuesday failing to pay for their delegates.

Hundreds of delegates, including ward reps from at least 19 counties by the time of going to press, were locked out of the meeting taking place at the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute in Naivasha.

More shockingly, however, is the shame of reps who did not attend the first official day of the conference on Tuesday despite collecting allowances from their county assemblies.

The conference began on a low key, with hundreds of empty seats and just a handful of delegates having arrived by the time it was starting at 10am.

The opening session, which was scheduled to begin at 8am, was suspended and came after a plenary session on enabling the environment for economic transformation, which kicked off the day.

The conference, however, picked up momentum as the day progressed, with an almost full-house attendance by the time the President was arriving.

The ongoing conference is the last to be held before the General Election this year. More than 5,000 delegates were expected to attend the forum bringing together governors, senators, MCAs, diplomats, international and local business people.

NINETEEN COUNTIES

This year’s forum was themed around devolution stories from across the country.

By the time of going to press, some 19 counties had not paid the Sh2 million fee totalling to a deficit of Sh38 million which the Council of Governors had hoped to raise to support the four-day forum.

Each of the 47 counties was required to pay a sum of Sh2 million. The decision was made by the governors’ council and was aimed at having the county governments support the conference costs.

It has, however, emerged that only 28 counties had paid up the required sum by Tuesday. Delegates from those counties that did not meet the requirements were shocked to learn that they could not be admitted to the conference.

Those that had not paid included Nairobi, Mombasa, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Kisii, Kericho and Baringo counties. Others were Migori, Nyamira, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Embu, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kwale, Lamu, Mandera, Nyandarua, Tana River and Laikipia.

In Isiolo’s case, the information director at the governor’s office, Mr Hussein Salesa, said the county treasury failed to release the money on time. The money was, however, released on Tuesday, according to Mr Salesa. A total of 10 delegates were on their way to Naivasha, he said, while MCAs were preparing to leave later in the day after adjourning the assembly sittings.

SH94 MILLION

County governments have been aware of the conference costs since September. According to organisers, deadlines were shifted several times and eventually removed to give time to counties to remit the money.

If all the 47 counties had paid up, they would have generated a total of Sh94 million towards the conference costs which include catering services.

The Nation has established that at least one county issued a bounced cheque. Some county governments paid at the last minute.

Later in the day, conference organisers allowed governors and deputies from counties that had not paid up to attend the day’s sessions but locked out their staff and MCAs.

Senators Billow Kerrow - the chairman of the Senate committee on Finance and Kiraitu Murungi his agriculture counterpart, who were scheduled as speaker and panelist respectively were not present during their sessions forcing organisers to find replacements.

President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived at the conference venue at midday and presided over the official opening ceremony. He said more than a trillion shillings had been given to the counties and this was double the constitutional minimum.

Report by Caroline Wafula, Davd Opiyo and Njeri Rugene.