Members of the press,
Citizens of Kenya,
• Since the year 2013, The Council of Governors together with Senate and Ministry of devolution and planning in collaboration with other stakeholders has organized the devolution conference on an annual basis.
• The Annual Devolution conference has become a critical event in the annual devolution calendar, bringing together all stakeholders who use the conference time to discuss several matters of concern with regard to the implementation of devolved system of government.
• The conference is also an opportunity for the host County to showcase their achievements. That is why the conferences are held in different Counties each year.
• The 1st devolution conference was held in Kwale County in April 2014, the 2nd Devolution Conference was held in Kisumu April 2015 and the 3rd Devolution Conference was held in Meru April 2016.
• The 4th Annual devolution conference will be held in The Mara, Narok County on 20th to 24th February 2017. The overall theme of the conference is “The Devolution Transformation” with a guiding theme “Devolution-Transforming Lives: Tell your Story!” The Conference comes earlier than the other past conferences that have always happened in April because 2017 is an election year.
• The President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta has confirmed his attendance at the conference as the chief guest.
• The 4th annual devolution conference will be unique in that it will feature in a big way the voices of “Wananchi”. Each county will facilitate at least 50 citizens to participate during the conference.
• Another unique aspect of the 4th annual devolution conference will be celebrating devolution warriors through The Devolution Warrior Awards, which is a process of recognizing the efforts made by Kenyans and Kenyan Institutions in promoting, protecting and safeguarding devolution since March 2013
• The planning of the conference is through a Multi-Agency/Intergovernmental Devolution planning Committee comprising of National government, Senate, County governments, development partners, civil society organizations and private sector among others.
• There is also an Intergovernmental Devolution Conference Steering Committee which consists of the Council of Governors, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, The Senate and County Assemblies Forum, Office of the president and Deputy Governors.
• The Joint communiqué, which are action points from the Devolution Conference, have been implemented from all the past devolution conferences. For the 1st annual devolution conference 73% of the resolutions have been implemented and others are ongoing. For the 2nd annual devolution conference 68% of the resolutions have been implemented. We are currently implementing the resolutions of the 3rd annual devolution conference.
• Some of the planned pre-conference activities are:
1. County Dialogues which are on-going.
2. The Devolution Torch
3. County Executive Committee member conference which will be on 1st and 2nd December at Kipsigis Girls High School, Kericho County.
4. Children’s’ Pre-devolution conference in January 2017.
5. Voting for the Devolution Warriors.
• I would like to invite other organizations and all like –minded people to join us in this journey and offer their support as they have done before to enable us have a successful conference.
• We shall keep citizens updated on the planning of the 4th Annual Devolution Conference through the various media outlets. Please visit the Council of Governors website on cog.go.ke and Devolution conference website on devolution.cog.go.ke.
Thank you.
H.E John Mruttu- Vice Chairman, Council of Governors
H. E Samuel Ole Tunai – Governor, Narok County
H. E Winfred Lesaan – Senator, Bomet County
Dr. Anne Kinyua - Devolution Secretary