Counties move close to full reign of devolved functions
By Alvin.Mwangi, January 29, 2024Counties are edging closer towards getting control of pending devolved functions worth Sh272.2 billion.
People Daily understands the National government has already agreed to surrender trade and investment, education and health in the ongoing talks in Naivasha.
“The validation exercise has been successful in the sectors. They have been completed without any disputes between the national and county governments,” said Chair Intergovernmental Technical Relations Committee (IGRTC) Kiragu Kithinji.
The functions come as a big reprieve since they will be getting more funds to make devolution work. The health functions are worth Sh3.2 billion.
Despite Health being a devolved function, the two entities seem to be clashing in the implementation of key roles aimed at ensuring Kenyans access quality healthcare.
Controversy also continues to surround the Sh63 billion Managed Equipment Services (MES) project after the government agreed to terminate an eight-year agreement with counties.
The agreement was made between the Ministry of Health and Council of Governors (CoG) in June. This was despite the National Treasury allocating over Sh9 billion under the 2023/24 budget. Out of the allocation, each county is supposed to receive Sh200 million annually for the leased equipment.
Medical equipment
In 2015, the ministry of Health signed a deal with five firms to lease about 20 different types of equipment including dialysis machines and MRI scanners on behalf of 47 counties. In education, (IGRTC) has identified 52 elements and unbundled as exclusive to the county governments, recommending their transfer to the devolved units.
“The National government is restricted to education policy, standards, curricula and examinations. Implementation is a mandate of the county governments,” IGRTC says.
Counties have been protesting why the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) had taken Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) over by the national government in line with the commendation.
Transfer of managements
PWPER, in its report released early last year, recommended the transfer of the management of over 30,000 ECDE centres, which are currently under the County Governments to the national government.
Besides the functions, the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) will yield billions to counties to run the functions.
The State Department of Devolution and the IGRTC are spearheading the meeting of top state and county officers to resolve the standoff.
“The validation exercise has been successful in the [three] sectors. They have been completed without any disputes between the national and county governments,” a dispatch from the meeting states.
Last month, President William Ruto gave the IGRTC two months to engage stakeholders to avert a looming clash and court battles over the functions.
“Accordingly, I have instructed IGRTC to thoroughly engage all relevant stakeholders to avoid conflicts and acrimonious litigation in court,” Ruto said.
The report was disputed by the national government. “The county governments have been assigned exclusive functions, which do not require co-sharing of responsibilities with the national government,” Kiragu said.
Nineteen elements of trade, industry and investment function have been identified and unbundled as exclusive to the county governments.
Eighteen new elements of the function were identified as concurrent to be transferred to county governments. The elements have a budget of Sh4.8 billion.