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Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) will in the next year transfer all the functions still held by some national government agencies to the devolved units.

This comes even as governors disclosed to IGRTC they are not interested in the functions if the budget and other resources do not follow such functions.

According to IGRTC, defunct Local Authorities left behind liabilities to devolved units amounting to Sh53.75 billion, an amount that has not been settled todate since the onset of devolution.

The move to transfer the functions to the counties will see the State agencies face massive budget cuts as the state moves to ensure that all the devolved functions are transferred.

This means that such government bodies lose billions of shillings with the county chiefs smiling all the way to the bank to cash in and have more functions and responsibilities placed on their shoulders.

IGTRC chairperson Kithinji Kiragu said that they have initiated a rigorous exercise to identify the functions and determine the accompanying budget for the implementation of the functions.

“In the next three months, we want to come to a situation where it is clear which functions are going to move from the national state departments and agencies including state corporation to county governments because the functions they are performing have been devolved,” said Kiragu.

Assets and liabilities

He said that his committee is currently combing the relevant laws, projects, buildings, assets and liabilities that ought to have been transferred to the counties.

“IGRTC is currently in the process of completing the transfer of pending devolved functions to the county governments so as to ensure the attendant resources related to the functions including the related assets are transferred to the counties,” said Kiragu.

He further explained that his committee was working closely with other state agencies, including the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission to resolve the conflicts.

Appearing before the Senate’s Public Investments and Special Funds Committee (CPICSF) chaired by Vihiga lawmaker Godfrey Osotsi, Kiragu opined that the identification of the functions and the budget will be concluded in three months. However, the actual transfer will happen in June next year as the IGRTC in coloration will other agencies will be working on modalities for smooth transfer.

“We want to ensure that by the end of June 2024, we shall essentially close that chapter with regards to the devolved functions,” said Kiragu. The oversight Osotsi-led committee had invited the management of IGRTC, an intergovernmental agency, to explain the status of devolved functions still being performed by the national government agencies.

“We are going to do budget rationalization which will inform the development of CARA (County Allocation of Revenue Bill) by the Senate for the purpose of effecting the transfer of the functions, physical assets as well as budget resources,” Kiragu held.

Functions and budget

Besides the functions and the budget, IGRTC is also identifying assets, policies and laws that will be amended to streamline the transfer. The IGRTC is also identifying for transfer attendance resources – financial, human, system and equipment – required for the effective implementation of the functions.

“We are also developing an implementation plan for the transferred functions,” he said. IGRTC disclosed to the nine-member watchdog member team that it has completed the identification, valuation and validation of assets and liabilities that were previously under the defunct authorities.