Stop holding on to devolved functions, human rights lobbyists tell President Ruto

A consortium of human rights lobbyists working on devolution on Tuesday demanded that the national government stops holding on to any devolved functions.

The Kenya Devolution Civil Society Organisations Working Group wants President William Ruto to fulfil his promise to surrender all devolved functions to the county governments.

Led by Cornelius Oduor of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Diana Gichengo, the Executive Director of The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), the lobbyists regretted that the country's public health sector is in turmoil, with primary healthcare services deteriorating due to unfulfilled promises and administrative bottlenecks.

"President William Ruto has twice reneged on his promise to transfer devolved functions to county governments, which, had it been done, at least Sh271 billion would have gone to counties to alleviate the suffering people face," said Oduor.

Oduor said that the national government has retained control of some functions despite the constitutional mandate to empower county governments with devolved healthcare functions. According to him, millions of Kenyans are at risk of preventable illnesses as their access to healthcare has been compromised.

"But it is not just healthcare — other sectors have also been affected, with infrastructure lying in ruins, because the national government is hoarding funds and functions that the county should be running," said Oduor.

Gichengo said that while the defunct Transition Authority transferred all devolved functions to the county governments, the national government retained roles undertaken by regional development authorities like the Kenya Forest Service, the Water Resources Management Authority, and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority.

"President Ruto's first promise to transfer these functions within 90 days occurred on August 15, 2023 during the devolution conference held in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County," said Gichengo.

According to the team, the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) complied with the directives. IGRTC led the technical processes that involved unbundling or delineating the functions for clarity and their historical costing.

"Having completed the task in time, the IGRTC published the information in a special gazette notice No. 16170 Vol. CXXV-No.251 on November 27, 2023."

Evans Kibet of the Kenya Devolution Civil Society Organisations Working Group said the process proposed transferring at least an additional Sh271 billion to the county governments based on the fully costed functions and was first published in a gazette notice. However, it was recalled through another gazette notice — Vol. CXXV-No. 257 — on December 8, 2023, without any explanation.

"On December 18, 2023, during the 10th meeting of the national and county governments coordinating summit, the President, again, announced a new 60-day timeline for transferring the devolved functions, pushing the deadline to February 2024," said Kibet.

Kibet explained that the IGRTC, jointly with the State Department for Devolution, further led a technical consultation process that involved various task teams and culminated in the drafting of legal notices that clarified all the functions assigned to the county governments under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution to facilitate the gazettement of the transfer of the pending functions.

He further noted that this process reviewed and proposed amendments to 94 relevant legislations across different sectors, consolidated into an omnibus Bill.

"These documents were submitted to the Office of the Attorney General in July 2024 and have since not been published. Consequently, the presidential directives on the transfer of the devolved functions have remained a mere promise," said Kibet.

The lobbyists expressed doubt on President Ruto's commitment to ensuring that devolution succeeds.

"Given this trend, we are deeply concerned that transferring the devolved functions may not be completed."

They also demanded that the Attorney General processes the gazettement of the legal notices lying at her office since July 2024 without delay. This, they said, will facilitate the transfer of the pending devolved functions.

"The Senate and the National Assembly should immediately process the omnibus Bill on the transfer of pending functions and ensure the allocation of the corresponding revenue to county governments to enable them to operate optimally," said Kibet.

The calls by the lobbyists come amid concerns by the Council of Governors (CoG) over what they term encroachment on devolved functions, particularly markets, housing, and lighting by the national government and its agencies.