Tuesday, 02 April 2019 21:10

THE KIRINYAGA DECLARATION: REMAINING ACCOUNTABLE

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The Council of Governors in partnership with other devolution stakeholders for the 6th successive year held the Annual Devolution conference. This year, the conference was held at Kirinyaga University, Kirinyaga County on the 4th and 8th March 2019. The conference brought together over 6,000 delegates to discuss devolution under the theme “Deliver. Transform. Measure. “Remaining Accountable.”
This is the second time, the conference took a sector approach in line with the Big 4 - Health, Food Security, Trade and Manufacturing and Affordable Housing. In addition the Water and Sanitation Sector was included.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Chief Guest, The President of the Republic of Kenya HE Uhuru Kenyatta affirmed the importance of hosting the Devolution conference where stakeholders meet and discuss issues around the implementation of devolution. “For so long, Kenyans have been debating devolution, its merits and demerits. From what we have learnt, the time has now come to put this knowledge into acts and deeds that transform the lives of Kenyans,” said the President
The Sixth Annual Devolution Conference provided a platform to share the accomplishments thus far towards achievement of the devolution dream in Kenya, highlight the challenges and forge a way forward. As a forum of information sharing, the Conference provided a platform to share best practices in the day to day efforts in implementation of the devolution agenda as well as highlight and celebrate initiatives and interventions that improve service At the National and County level.
County Governments still experience a myriad of challenges in the daily implementation of the devolved functions among them Finances, Infrastructure, policies, human resources and currently corruption. Both levels of Government support the war on corruption as it hinders development at both levels. The theme of the conference centrally places the war on corruption as both levels of Governments must “remain accountable” in all their projects and initiatives.
The Devolution Conference each year is planned by a multi-agency committee and steered by a committee Co-chaired by the Council of Governors, the Ministry of Devolution and ASALs, the Senate and the County Assemblies Forum. This year, the Steering commit was co-chaired by the Vice-Chair of the Council, Governor Mwangi Wa Iria, Hon. Eugene Wamalwa, the Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Devolution and ASAL, Senator Irungu Kang’ata; and Hon. Eric Mwangi, Secretary-General of the County Assemblies Forum.
In his address during the Conference, Council of Governors Chairman, HE Wycliffe Oparanya hailed the great work, sacrificial commitment and zeal of the members of the steering committee.
The Chairman also addressed the insufficient allocations and delayed disbursements of funds to Counties by the National Treasury which has paralyzed finalization of development projects and hampered service delivery. “In this second phase of devolution, it is imperative that the National Treasury disburses County funds in time to avoid unnecessary interferences with County operations. Moreover, there are functions that remain unfunded yet they have already been transferred to the Counties, for instance, libraries and museums. Our call for more revenue allocations is informed by the fact that a large percentage of services are provided by County Governments.” he reiterated.
The Conference ended with a 24 point communique highlighting the actions by difference institutions to be implemented over the next one year.
Other guests at the event was the Rt. Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga who gave a keynote address on the second day of the conference and the Deputy President of Kenya, H.E William Ruto who officially closed the conference.
The conference kicked off with a football tournament titled ‘The Devolution Cup’ with three football matches being held and the Senate emerging the winners of the tournament. The Council of Governors played against the Senate while the County Assemblies Forum challenged the CSs and PSs of the Ministries under the Big Four Agenda. The tournament was organized by the planning committee to build cohesiveness between the two levels of Government.

Click here for the communique.

Read 2364 times Last modified on Thursday, 04 April 2019 05:20