Devolution summit attendees 'must be fully vaccinated'

All delegates, exhibitors and service providers planning to attend the seventh devolution conference that is slated for next month must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, governors have decided. 

The seventh devolution conference that brings together governors, senators and other devolution stakeholders is slated for August 23-26 at Wote Town in Makueni County. The 4-day physical meeting comes when the government is experimenting with opening up the economy.

Kisii Governor James Ongwae, who chairs the devolution conference steering committee alongside Devolution cabinet secretary Eugene Wamalwa, said everybody planning to attend the devolution conference “must get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of the conference” as one of the measures to prevent the spread of the highly infectious respiratory disease.

 He had led a team from the Council of Governors, the Senate and the Ministry of Health to assess Makueni’s preparedness to host the last annual conference. The team included Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang who chairs the Senate devolution committee, Health CAS Rashid Aman and Dr Willis Akhwale, the chairman of the Covid-19 taskforce at the Ministry of Health.

 “The Ministry of Health is making arrangements to ensure that all the delegates to the conference will be vaccinated from their counties of origin. Makueni County should be provided with additional vaccines to ensure that all taxi drivers, boda boda operators, food handlers and all the service providers who will interact with the delegates and exhibitors are vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of the conference," Mr Ongwae said on FRiday after meeting Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana.

 The team led by Mr Ongwae inspected Makueni Boys ground where the main event will take place, Unoa Primary School grounds, and some hotels in Wote town and Makindu township.

 Themed 'Multi-level governance for climate action', the seventh devolution conference is geared towards enhancing the relationship between the national government, the county governments and all other actors in the climate change agenda in post-Covid-19 period. 

The devolution conference was supposed to take place last year were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be the last annual devolution as subsequent conferences will be held once after every two years.

More than 5,000 delegates are expected to attend the physical meeting which, according to Mr Ongwe, will be graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta, deputy president William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga. Although some of the delegates are expected to stay in hotels in the neighboring Machakos County, the event is expected to be a boon to the business community in Makueni County where the bulk of the delegates and exhibitors are expected to stay.

 Governor Kibwana said the county was upbeat. “We are ready for the conference. We want all our hotels in town and elsewhere to provide accommodation but we believe some tented accommodation is needed so that there is no deficit of accommodation for all the visitors,” he said.

 He underscored the need for the steering committee to provide sideline forums during the conference for grassroots and civil society organizations to showcase their work in the fight against climate change.