President William Ruto on Monday surprised Council of Governors (CoG) Chairperson Anne Waiguru by announcing the immediate disbursement of Ksh7.2 billion to counties to finance local climate action activities.
Waiguru had earlier on behalf of counties, lobbied the national government to channel some of the climate change funds sourced from foreign nations and donors to the devolved units. The Kirinyaga Governor also mapped out how counties would use the funds to help locals mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
Ruto while announcing the disbursement vowed that he would be ruthless while dealing with any official caught misappropriating public funds.
“I will today issue Ksh7.2 billion in the form of County Climate Change Investment grants which together with Ksh3 billion of the county's own resource allocation, will finance local climate action priorities in agriculture, water and national resource management in every county cascaded to every ward,” the President stated.
The Head of State expressed gratitude to Governor Anne Waiguru and her fellow county chiefs for their support of the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action Program (FLLOCA), which has achieved progress in a short time.
“I encourage them to go further and offer more robust support for our efforts to grow,” he added.
The President added that the CoG together with the Treasury, and the Ministry of Environment had worked closely to ensure that climate change adaptation initiatives were achieved in every ward.
To support FLLOCA programs, Ruto announced that the government was receiving funding from donors and foreign nations.
The program's partners include; the World Bank, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Netherlands.
Waiguru in her speech explained that the money received would be put to prudent use that would benefit Kenyans especially those living in rural areas.
“County governments are committed to enhancing county planning, budgeting and execution of allocated resources for climate action through actual investment in climate adaptation and mitigation by realigning resources within and across sectors to effectively address local needs and align with national priorities for effective service delivery,” she stated.
About FLLOCA
The program aims to strengthen local resilience to the impact of climate change, natural hazards, and other shocks.
FLLOCA achieves this by building local capacity to plan, budget, implement and monitor resilience investments in a way that promotes collaborative partnerships between communities, and the national and county governments.
