Ruto team, governors clash over Sh272bn devolution roles
A huge row has erupted between the national and county governments over functions worth Sh272.2 billion earmarked for devolution.
The Star has established that the national government – especially ministries set to lose functions and billions – has bitterly disputed the planned transfer of the roles to the devolved units.
The development comes after the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee identified several devolved functions that are still being performed by the national government.
The IGRTC identified some components of at least 10 decentralized functions that are still performed from the center and the accompanying budget remains with the national Executive.
The committee has also picked several laws and recommended their amendment to fully anchor devolution.
Consequently, the IGRTC and the State Department of Devolution have organized a key meeting with all Principal Secretaries to discuss their grievances and strike a deal on the release of the functions from their dockets.
“The PSs will be giving their views on their respective sector reports,” IGTRC said in a statement on Tuesday.
The IGTRC has also convened a meeting of all governors and PSs in Naivasha next week as part of the engagement to unlock the impasse.
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 head of state spoke during the National and County Governments Summit held at the State House in December last year.
In its report on the bundling and valuation of the functions tabled before the Senate’s Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee by IGRTC chairman Kithinji Kiragu late last year, IGRTC identified several functions.
The report reveals that the Ministry of Health and agencies under it are performing 45 elements of the health function that exclusively belong to the counties.
“Four other elements of the function identified and unbundled as concurrent to be transferred to the counties,” the report states.
The health functions are worth Sh3.2 billion.
“The county governments have been assigned exclusive functions, which do not require co-sharing of responsibilities with the national government,” Kiragu said.
The Ministry of Water, the report shows, is performing 18 elements of functions with a total budget of Sh58 billion.
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,” the report says.
The Energy Ministry and its agencies are still holding onto devolved functions worth Sh59 billion.
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“Four new elements of the function identified and unbundled as exclusive to the county government and two elements identified and unbundled as concurrent to be transferred to county governments,” the report states.
Further, the report shows that some 41 elements of agriculture function are still being performed by the state.
The functions are worth Sh105 billion.
The IGRTC report indicates that the national government is restricted to the agriculture policy formulation function.
“The national government has been assigned function 29, which is agricultural policy,” the report says.
“Any subsequent responsibility assigned to the national government should be determined through an intergovernmental mechanism and not part of a functional assignment to the national government,” it adds.
Some 19 elements of trade, industry, and investment function have been identified and unbundled as exclusive to the county governments.
Some 18 new elements of the function were identified as concurrent to be transferred to county governments. The elements have a budget of Sh4.8 billion.
“The responsibility of the national government with regards to trade is restricted to international trade. The national government therefore can develop an international trade policy with different aspects of trade that county governments can domesticate,” the report states.
The IGRTC indicates that the overall mandate of trade development and regulation is an exclusive function of the county governments.
The report also shows that the Ministry of Roads and Transport is holding onto 51 elements of the functions belonging to the county governments.
“Six new elements of the function identified and unbundled as concurrent to be transferred to county governments,” the report states.
The elements are valued at Sh10.9 billion.
According to the IGRTC, the national government has no role in road construction save for the responsibility to construct and operate the national trunk roads.
“The only other responsibility related to the national government about the function of the road is on the provision of standards for the construction and maintenance of other roads by the counties,” it says.
Eleven elements of the tourism and wildlife function worth Sh31 billion are still being performed by the national government.
Despite the IGTRC recommending the transfer of the functions to the devolved units, it has proposed a reevaluation of the human resource component to identify any pending transfer.
“There was a consensus that currently there exists no human resource to be transferred to the counties as those performing functions at the national level are the national government’s staff,” the report states.
Despite the IGTRC recommending the transfer of the functions to the devolved units, it has proposed a reevaluation of the human resource component to identify any pending transfer.
Ruto team, governors clash over Sh272bn devolution roles
