The Deputy Governors Forum held a consultative meeting in Mombasa County from 18^th -21^st April 2023, to discuss matters related to the Office of the Deputy Governor as well as pertinent issues affecting County Governments. The workshop was opened by the Deputy President H.E. Rigathi Gachagua and graced by H.E. Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir, Governor of Mombasa County, Council of Governors (CoG) Whip H.E. Stephen Sang and the Principal Secretary, Devolution Ms. Teresiah M. Malokwe. Other dignitaries who joined the Deputy Governors meeting were: Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Hon. Joash Maangi; Vice Chairperson, Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee Senator Catherine Mumma; Vice Chairperson of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Dr. Amani Komora; CoG CEO Ms. Mary Mwiti, a representative from LAPFUND; and representatives from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development (FCDO).

Speaking during the official opening ceremony, H.E. Rigathi Gachagua urged the Deputy Governors to remain committed to serving all Kenyans and supporting the County Chiefs to ensure smooth running of County affairs.

“Seek to cultivate a good working relationship with your bosses. Rather than competing with them, understand what their vision is and work together with them to ensure full realization as well as the delivery of the manifesto,” noted H.E. the Deputy President.

“The only way to restore the country’s economy is to enhance the National budget, improve Counties own source revenue collection and digitize government services to seal all loopholes for pilferage of public funds,” he added while highlighting the current cash crunch Counties are facing occasioned by delays in disbursements of equitable share by the exchequer.

CoG Whip H.E. Stephen Sang implored the Deputy President, who also Chairs the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC), to advance the devolution agenda and advocate for timely disbursement of resources to Counties for effective, efficient and sustainable service delivery.

“The Governors and Deputy Governors, through the CoG, will continue to work in collaboration with the Office of the President and the Deputy President to promote, protect and entrench the principles of devolution and all its tenets for the transformative growth of our nation and the development of its people,” said H.E. Stephen Sang.

Similarly, his Mombasa counterpart H.E. Hon. AbdullSwamad Shariff Nassir called upon the National Government to approve a proposal to have financial institutions buy off all approved and confirmed pending bills in the Counties for later repayment to ease the financial strain in the devolved units.

Critical issues discussed during the consultative forum included: strategies to strengthen the office of the Deputy Governor; value based leadership in public service; meaningful partnerships for County Governments; engagements with Parliament; and ongoing programmes and projects under the Kenya Devolution Support Program by FCDO.

While delivering his remarks H.E. Martin Moshisho, Chair, Deputy Governors Forum affirmed the unwavering commitment of his team to work with all state and non-state stakeholders to deliver the promise of devolution to all Kenyans.

“This is an opportunity for us to network and exchange ideas as our Counties settle into the first phase of the implementation of the County Integrated Development Plans. We’ve all had different experiences in the seven and a half months we have been in office and l hope we can share and learn from each other to ensure the effective execution of our mandates,” he added.

As stipulated by the Constitution and the County Governments Act, the Office of the Deputy Governor is key in implementation of the devolved system of governance in Kenya. To this end, it was agreed among others that: the Deputy Governors Forum will work with the Governors to strengthen the office of the Deputy Governor through clear definition of roles and responsibilities; the need to strengthen intergovernmental relations and review the laws that claw back on devolution; the Deputy Governors Executive will meet with the CoG Executive to discuss the participation of the Deputy Governors in the CoG technical committees; the Forum will work with the Senate to push for amendments to the County Governments Act in order to strengthen the office of the Deputy Governor; and the Deputy Governors Forum and the Office of the Deputy President to regularly meet to discuss matters of common interest.