The Council of Governors and the Senate held a fruitful inaugural High Level Meeting (HLM) to review the ten years of progress in the implementation of devolution in Naivasha town.

The meeting was officially opened by the Speaker of the Senate Rt Hon.Amason Kingi,EGH.

Other key note speakers included Deputy Speaker,Kathuri Murungi,MGH, COG Chairperson, Hon Anne Waiguru,EGH, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Aaron Cheruiyot CBS ,Governors Hon Fernandes Barasa,OGW (Kakamega),Susan Kihika (Nakuru) and Senator Tabitha Keroche.

The theme of the meeting is "𝐸𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑠: 𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑘-𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑒𝑛 (10) 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛".

The Governors and Senators engaged in robust discussions touching on various issues such as how to enhance cooperation between the Senate and County Governments,assessed ongoing legislative gaps to strengthen devolution,the role of Senate and COG in enhancing oversight and accountability in devolved units and shared experiences and challenges in devolution.

 At the end of the meeting the COG and the Senate issued a joint communique signed by the Speaker of the Senate and COG Chairperson outlining comprehensive resolutions with clear timelines to be jointly implemented by the two entities. 

The meeting resolved :

𝐎𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬: 

1.That the High-Level Meeting between the Senate and the Council of Governors be convened annually

2.That the Select Committees of the Senate and the Technical Committees of the Council of Governors establish working linkages to address thematic issues and collaborate in initiating, developing and reviewing legislation

3.That the Senate and the Council of Governors adopt a mutually respectful framework for the appearance of Governors before Senate Committees

4.That the Senate and the Council of Governors constitute a high-level liaison committee to drive the devolution agenda and address potential areas of friction in a timely and collegial manner  

𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬 

1.That the Senate and the Council of Governors engage with the National Treasury to introduce a Devolution Bond that would enable the National Treasury to meet requests for Exchequer releases as they fall due

2.That the Senate and the Council of Governors collaborate on development of legislation to separate the functions of the Ministry of Finance and those of the National Treasury, to have a Treasury that equitably serves the two levels of government without being a Ministry under one level

3.That the two levels of government expedite the unbundling and costing of devolved functions to enable the Counties to receive the necessary resources to execute their functions 

4.The Senate to fast -track the development of laws that would support benefit sharing with Counties on revenue generated from natural resources as well as government parastatal institutions 

5.The senate to fast – track the passage of additional conditional grants allocations bill to facilitate flow of conditional grants to counties.

 There is need for timelines for migration from the cash basis of accounting to accrual basis to enable preparation of consolidated financial statements.

𝐎𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬, 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 

1.That the Senate and the Council of Governors, working with other devolution stakeholders, to prioritise the alignment of laws, policies and institutions with the devolved system of government. This includes the areas of health, public finance management, agriculture, land and physical planning, trade and investment, tourism, urban development and natural resources management 

2.That the Senate and the Council of Governors develop a framework for involvement of the county governments in policy formulation and legislation   

3.That Parliament fast-tracks legislation to align the regional development authorities with the devolved system of government to remove duplication and overlaps in mandates with the county governments 

4.That the Senate fast tracks legislation on equal representation of both levels of governments in boards of institutions implementing concurrent functions, for example KEMSA 

5.That Parliament amends section 3 of the State Corporations Act of 1986 which empowers the President to establish corporations and assign them functions, including devolved functions, without reference to Parliament and the County Governments 

𝐎𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 

That the Senate fast-tracks legislation to anchor the Council of Governors Secretariat in law and to put in place a legal framework for the funding of its operations 

𝐎𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬

The Senate to prepare a legislation that caters for pension for retiring Governors.

𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

That the Senate and the Council of Governors will collaborate in organizing a side event to amplify the voices of sub-national governments in climate change resilience and adaptation.