Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday, October 18, pledged to transfer devolved functions to the county governors in the next six months.
Speaking after chairing the 18th Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) at the Kenya School of Government at Lower Kabete, Gachagua noted they would execute its mandate within a six months deadline.
He added that his office would foster intergovernmental relations by empowering the Council of Governors in accordance with the law.
"We have discussed over the transfer of functions and we have confirmed to the council that the Ruto administration has the political goodwill to hasten the transfer as per the constitution and we have given ourselves a deadline of six months," he stated.
"We have confirmed that intergovernmental relations are anchored in the office of the DP, but we have agreed they will be a dead arm to the executive order so that the CoG is properly anchored by law," Gachagua added.
The announcement followed concerns regarding the role of the Council of Governors (CoG) in the new government.
In attendance were CoG chairperson and Kirinyaga county governor Anne Waiguru, outgoing Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Ukur Yatani, and Nandi governor Stephen Sang, among other leaders.
The DP emphasised the government is focused on the prompt disbursement of funds to the county government.
He added the counties that got larger shares of county cash allocations would be prioritised by the national government.
Additionally, to fulfill the affordable housing promise, the Ruto-Rigathi administration requested the governors to identify land in their counties for the project.
While commissioning the Kings Serenity affordable housing project in Rongai, President William Ruto promised to build 200,000 Houses annually and affirmed that half of them would be in the affordable housing category.
Conclusively, the county bosses were requested to participate in the fertiliser distribution by providing last-mile transportation.
