COVER STORY
The Transition Authority, the Council of Governors and the Summit were created by the 10th parliament in addition to Commission for the implementation of the Constitution (CIC) chaired by Charles Nyachae, which was expected to spearhead the exercise. So far, 30 out of the total 47 counties have accepted that they do not have capacity to handle some functions devolved to them and appealed to the Transition Authority to take over. plemented in order to save taxpayers from huge losses. But Governors’ Council chairman Isaac Rutto argues that the government is adamant and is not willing to release funds and transfer of some functions as stipulated in the Constitution. It was against this backdrop that Mr. Rutto, now seen as a thorn in the flesh of Jubilee government, was expected to spearhead campaigns to push for amendments of the Constitution to protect counties’ interests. The amendments, the Governors said, was to force central government to allocate at least 40 per cent of national budget to the counties. Opposition led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also raised the red flag, claiming that devolution lacks political goodwill from Jubilee government. Mr. Odinga last month led a group of Governors allied to his party to the US to lobby for funds and study how devolution works. But experts noted that the creation of three institutions that were not initially in the Kenyan constitution is the main reasons behind the difficulties in the implementation of devolution. Some experts argue creation of three more organs by the tenth parliament is to blame for the ongoing confusion over the implementation of the devolution.
Governor Isaac Rutto of Bomet County.
come the teething problems,” said Mr. Wamwangi. The national government has surrendered some of the functions that had already been factored into the national budget, leading to a situation where the counties will take over these functions while having no finances to run them. The chairman of CIC, Charles Nyachae, argued that Section 14 of the Sixth Schedule had not been followed and there is a need to evaluate whether the Transition Authority has the capacity to deliver. The section demands that the transfer of functions to counties take a period of three years and that no county can be given functions until it is ready. The likely area of contention will be the health sector, where the Constitution prescribed that the counties be in charge of primary health functions while the national government deals with the formulation of health policies and the management of national referral health facilities. County health services include county health facilities and pharmacies; ambulance services; promotion of primary health care; licensing and control of undertakings that sell food to the public; veterinar