How I will ensure devolution succeeds: Anne Waiguru on plans for CoG
Council of Governors chair person Anne Waiguru.
The new Council of Governors (CoG) Chairperson Anne Waiguru has committed to push for increased budgetary allocation to county governments to ensure smooth running of the devolved units.
The second-term Kirinyaga Governor who was on Saturday named the first female chairperson of the council, in an exclusive interview with the Nation, said she will work in consultation with other governors and stakeholders to “firmly negotiate for increasing this allocation to 35 percent or more as we collaborate with the national government to deliver its manifesto to Kenyans”.
Ms Waiguru also vowed to strive to ensure a harmonious working relationship between governors and their deputies.
“To reduce conflicts between governors and their deputies, there is need for defined roles for deputy governors while they work alongside their bosses.
As it is now, some governors have figured it out to have their deputies taking up executive committee roles where they run specific departments.”
“Others have had pre-election power-sharing agreements. There is need for consultative deliberations on the issue with the aim of coming up with a uniform working formula,” Ms Waiguru said.
This is what she had to say regarding her vision as she takes over the office previously held by former governors Isaack Ruto (Bomet), Peter Munya (Meru), Josphat Nanok (Turkana) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega).
How do you feel being the first female chair of the CoG?
I am honoured and delighted to be entrusted with this role by my colleagues. This, coming at the back of the election of twice the number of female governors by Kenyans, demonstrates that the nation is prime for women in various leadership roles across the board. I am committed to working with the council to deliver its mandate of offering better governance and outcome driven services in the counties.
What informed your candidature for CoG chair post?
Being a second-term governor and having worked with the national government at very senior levels, I felt that I bring with me first-hand knowledge and experience as far as devolution is concerned. That blend of experience is important in navigating through the two levels of governance.
What’s your vision for the council?
As the third generation of county governments, I envision the CoG delivering the full spirit of the devolution dream as captured in the constitution and affirmed by the past nine years of the devolved sectors’ impact on Kenyans’ lives. We will collaborate and mentor each other to strengthen the implementation of the various county manifestos and the national government macro-economic goals for the benefit of mwananchi.
How do you plan to steer CoG to achieve its mandate?
One of the critical achievements I would like to institute is the anchoring of the CoG’s Secretariat in law. We have critical committees within the council, chaired by my colleagues, that I believe are at the heart of championing, harmonising, standardising and elevating the potential impact of policies to citizens. Stronger collaboration with the national government to ensure effectiveness is very critical for CoG. I believe that this, among other strategies, will keep us focused on delivering our mandate.
Do you think devolution has achieved its intent?
Devolution has to a very great extent achieved its mandate even though there is still a lot that needs to be done to achieve the full intended gains. Many of our counties have achieved tremendous development milestones in the various devolved services.
We are not anywhere near where we were 10 years ago when it comes to areas such as health, agriculture, value addition, rural transport network, water and sanitation as well as provision of conducive infrastructure to enable investment even in the hinterlands. We have seen many counties construct bridges connecting people across rivers and markets, and the development of urban economic plans in most of our counties.
What measures do you plan to put in place to ensure it achieves what the framers of the constitution intended it to achieve?
I intend to work closely with the sectoral committees to support governors in framing, implementing and monitoring development policies that will deliver the devolution spirit of our constitution. This includes ensuring that there is the delivery of critical services such as health, agriculture, housing, water, hygiene and sanitation, education and youth employment as well as land ownership.
I will also lead firm negotiations with the national government on the issue of resources, their disbursement and increased allocation and fully devolving functions according to the constitution.
How do you intend to enhance capacity-building for governors to ensure no county lags behind in terms of achievements in the devolved units?
The overarching priority in the CoG’s five-year strategic plan (2022–2027) is to promote good governance at the county level, strengthen the institutional capacity of county governments to deliver on their mandates, foster robust intergovernmental relations and improve the policy and legislative environment for devolution. We will have multiple programmes for county governments to participate in with great focus on the counties that need more technical support.
There has been bad blood between governors and MCAs and senators in the past 10 years, which has been linked to poor service delivery in some counties. How do you plan to ensure harmony to achieve counties’ development agenda?
To enhance harmonious relationships among governors, MCAs and senators, we will strive to ensure that all parties understand their roles and responsibilities so that none of them will be accused of overstepping. This can be done through sensitisation of all the parties from time to time. It is also important that there is transparency in the conduct of all public affairs by all parties to build trust.
Do you think senators and MCAs have achieved their targets in terms of offering checks and balances to the devolved administration?
Senators and MCAs have been instrumental in improving the implementation of devolution through checks and balances. It is only by questioning and challenging some of the methods and initial experiments that we have had nine years of incremental improvement. Like in any other institutions, organisation politics sometimes gets in the way of delivery to mwananchi. Heightened internal and external political interests have in some instances derailed the implementation of various programmes.
What, in your view, needs to be done to achieve this?
There is need for continuous capacity building for devolved political players in how best they can play their oversight roles without crippling the executive and the collective devolution mandate, which is access to services and participation by the citizens in government. We may also need to sensitise citizens to understand the representative roles and mandates of the political players in delivering devolution. Information and understanding are the key to unlocking the full potential of devolved representation.
What, in your view, is the reason why some counties haven’t achieved much of their mandates?
Devolution, by design, is meant to resolve nuanced local economic and service challenges. Some of these challenges are geographical, political, economic and so on. There is no one glove that fits all and that is the key reason we had to devolve as a country.
The initial nine years have been a steep learning curve for many counties and that is why the institution of CoG has to be supported as a peer platform for horizontal growth. Devolution’s success is our collective mandate, and we are only as strong as our weakest county. We will continue to internally interrogate and improve outcomes in all counties in strong collaboration with their elected leadership.
How can this be addressed to ensure all counties realise and enjoy the fruits of devolution?
Citizen advocacy is very critical through the journey of devolution. Civic education should be continuously carried out in areas of public participation, expectations, accountability frameworks, citizen reporting and voter education. There is need for people to carry out their oversight role and demand service delivery.
What's your take in terms of the gradual increase in the number of female governors elected?
The election of seven women governors is a great milestone for democratic representation. Women are half of the population in Kenya and not having 50 per cent of them in leadership positions is a great disservice. We are slowly realising and fixing that. The onus is on us too as women elected leaders to deliver twice as much and demonstrate our capacity as leaders. We recognise that we have to fight harder, be firmer and hold each other’s hand as we bring more women into leadership. “Where are they?” Is a question that should not keep coming up.
What is your target at the end of your service at CoG and as governor of Kirinyaga?
My target is to ensure that there is timely disbursement of funds to the counties and that no county is left behind when it comes to delivering their mandate. I will also ensure that there is strengthened collaboration and consultation among the counties, national government and other stakeholders.
As governor of Kirinyaga County, we have lined up a lot of development initiatives that we plan to implement. We are building on the foundation that we laid five years ago through our county development blueprint, The Mountain Cities 2032 Blue Print, from which we have derived the various programmes that we have been implementing.
What’s your parting shot?
My parting shot is to my fellow governors: Let us all strive to deliver on what we promised our people when we sought their votes. We will be held accountable for what goes on in our counties within the next five years. Let’s get to work and prove to them that they did not make a mistake when they chose us.
