KENYA TO HOLD COUNTRY’S FIFTH DEVOLUTION CONFERENCE.

Kenyan’s to focus investment on Agriculture, Energy and Trade.

Kenya’s Council of Governors (CoG) has agreed to hold the country’s fifth Devolution Conference this year (Devolution is the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by a country’s central government to local or regional administration). The Council said in a statement that the Conference will be a sector-based event covering health, agriculture, energy and infrastructure, and trade and cooperatives.

According to a World Bank report, Kenya’s decentralization is among the most rapid and ambitious devolution processes going on in the world, with new governance challenges and opportunities as the country builds a new set of county governments from scratch, adding that “Promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 marked a momentous point in the country’s history. The Constitution provided for, among others, enhanced checks and balances within the government, an enhanced role of Parliament and citizens, an independent judiciary, and a most progressive Bill of Rights.”

Multiple new laws have been put in place, including new legislation on county government, urban areas, public financial management, and the transition to devolved government, as well as multiple national bodies and commissions with responsibility for devolution.

Devolution is one of three pillars of the World Bank’s new Kenya Country Partnership Strategy that runs from 2014 to 2018. The Strategy targets new World Bank Group investments of up to $4 billion during its five-year implementation period.

The First Devolution Conference was held in Kenya’s Kwale County, the second in Kisumu County, the third in Meru County and the Fourth in Nakuru County.

The change in the location served to emphasize the Council of Governor’s declaration that devolution is working since the Conference was not resigned to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and leading financial hub.

The practice in the previous Devolution Conferences has been to hold a mega event and discuss pertinent issues in plenary sessions of about 4 hours each. This year, instead of handling one sector at a time, the Council of Governors reached the decision to hold a sector-based 5th Annual Devolution Conference.