REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE PRESIDENCY
MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING
WELCOME REMARKS BY ANNE WAIGURU, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND
PLANNING DURING THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE MEMBERS MEETING HELD ON 13th 14th APRIL 2015

Honorable Governors,
Honorable Senators,
Principal Secretaries,
CEO of KPLC
Commissioners
County Executive Members,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

pg. 1

I am delighted to join you today, at this meeting which is a precursor to the Second Annual Devolution
Conference and is meant to consolidate input from County Executives on areas of action for policy matters.

Slightly over two years ago, Kenya dispensed with the old administrative architecture and took on a fairly
steep transition with the devolved system of governance. This shift was brought about to remedy the
economic, social and political deficiencies that the country experienced under the old constitutional
dispensation. Our devolution is a hybrid structure of governance combining degrees of autonomy for county
governments and inter-dependence between both levels of government.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to put our devolution in context. As a nation, we find ourselves at a moment that provides
opportunity for the Kenyan take-off but also one that carries its own perils. We find ourselves at a point of
multiple transitions.
The first transition is the transition from the old Constitution to the new Constitution, the Constitution of Kenya
2010. Through this Constitution the architecture of the Kenyan society has fundamentally been redesigned.
The structure of Government has changed. The traditional relationships among the three arms of government
have been reorganized creating greater separation of powers and functional autonomy. The shift from a
unicameral to bi-cameral system, has dichotomized legislative relations in a way that we had never
anticipated.
pg. 2

The second and most fundamental transition which we face and, which is at the heart of todays discussion, is
the transition from a centralised state to one that has adopted the concept of devolution. Through this
transition new relations between the National Government and the County Governments, are emerging.

The Constitution in Article 6 (2) provides that governments at both levels are distinct and inter-dependent and
shall conduct their mutual relations on the basis of consultation and cooperation. Further Article 189 (1)
provides that the government at either level shall perform its functions, and exercise its powers, in a manner
that respects the functional and institutional integrity of government at the other level.

However, the Constitution, in its preamble, makes it clear that Kenya remains one indivisible whole thus our
devolution is not based on the principle of absolute autonomy but on inter-dependence and cooperation. Ours
is a system that combines a certain measure of autonomy and spheres of inter-dependence. The end result
of this combination is what may be referred to as a cooperative system of devolved government. The thrust of
this principle is that both levels of governments must function as a cohesive whole in order to achieve the
aspirations of our people.

Ladies and gentlemen,

pg. 3

Allow me to take you through the achievements we have gained so far under devolution. To begin with, all the
required legislation, regulations, systems and structures to operationalize devolution are in place. The
necessary intergovernmental institutions such as the Summit, the Intergovernmental and Economic Council
(IBEC), the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee and the Council of Governors are also
operational. Nearly all the functions under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution have been transferred, way
ahead of the three year deadline envisaged in the Constitution. County Governments have developed County
Integrated Development Plans, forming the basis of their development programs.

Through the National Capacity Building Framework, my ministry, other line ministries are working effortlessly
to delivering training across all core government sectors such as budgeting and finance, law and human
resource to county government officers. Moreover, we are currently finalizing the results of the Capacity
Assessment and Rationalization of the Public Service (CARPS) Programme whereby we are conducting a
skills audit of all government civil servants countrywide. The biometric data captured of over 190,000 existing
and newly recruited civil servants will assist us greatly in optimizing and re-allocating civil servants
accordingly.

In our Ministrys 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, we have planned a number of activities that will go a long way in
improving public service delivery both at the national and county levels. We are in the process of rolling out
pg. 4

Huduma Centers to the county and sub-county levels. Furthermore, we have also planned trainings and
capacity building programmes for public servants at both levels of government on transformative leadership
competencies and civic education at institutional levels and among the citizenry. We are in the course of
developing and reviewing policies on devolution to accommodate the emerging issues in the implementation
process and have in place a monitoring and evaluation framework for devolution and fast track realization of
results.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am sure you have first-hand knowledge on how devolution combined with major national infrastructure
projects such as LAPSSET and standard gauge railway are transforming county economies. According to the
Division of Revenue Act 2013 allocations to county governments amounted to Kshs. 210 billion while in 2014,
the allocations to county governments increased to over Ksh. 226 billion. This is expected to increase further
to Kshs 283 which includes shareable revenue of Ksh 258 and conditional grants this coming year. This is
without a doubt a great sum of money with the potential to catalyze growth at the grassroots level and
improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

CEC Members,

pg. 5

The case for devolution is traditionally prosecuted on the ground that it brings public services closer to the
people, who are expected would have more opportunities to participate actively in the decision-making
processes of local policies, than in centrally decided ones. This participation in turn is expected to contribute
to improved accountability and transparency, due to the fact that people can scrutinize devolved governance
structures more closely than central governments.
The services are also delivered more effectively and efficiently than in the case of a centralized
administration, since devolution is expected to reduce often lengthy bureaucratic procedures for decision
making and implementation. If that happens, the services then become more responsive, and are better
tailored for different needs of different localities. Accordingly, large bureaucracy at the center can be reduced,
and limited public resources can more efficiently and effectively utilized.
Today on our two year devolution anniversary, we are called to reaffirm our constitutional values and
principles of governance and measure them against our successes and challenges in operationalizing county
governments. How do the county governments measure up against the expectations of Kenyans of more
responsive and accountable leadership, better service delivery, higher standards of living and stronger and
more cohesive local communities?

pg. 6

This conference is an opportune moment for self-reflection and introspection. And the process of selfreflection provides an impetus for improvement and positive change. There is a quote that says : Life can
only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

Let us then apply the lessons of the past to build a better and more prosperous future for devolution in Kenya.

I thank you for your kind attention.

ANNE WAIGURU, OGW

CABINET SECRETARY

pg. 7