• The governor noted that even the money that is made available to counties does not flow to the devolved units as required.
• Waiguru believes that in two years, she has done a lot that Kirinyaga residents can attest to and she is focused on that at the moment.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru believes that attempts to micromanage counties by the national government is the greatest threat to devolution.
The former Devolution Cabinet Secretary told the Star in an interview that Treasury has tried all means to take control of county funds.
She added that this, coupled by the lack of enough resources, was making it impossible for counties to deliver the services and projects many residents want.
"The greatest challenge facing devolution is resources. Functions were devolved but the money did not follow and so a lot money has been left in Nairobi. If we could deal with that, half the problems would be solved," Waiguru said.
The governor noted that even the money that is made available to counties does not flow to the devolved units as required.
Waiguru also cited the lack of capacity as a major challenge to the success of devolution."The only way we can increase capacity in the rural areas is by making them attractive to the young professionals who have camped in Nairobi," she said.
She added, "The problem is that the pay scale by SRC (Salaries and Remuneration Commission) for counties is very different from that of the national government. That means you are not able to get officers of the same calibre at the county level."
Waiguru said that lack of officers with the technical knowhow has forced her to do all the work for all the documents she needs or get support from outside the county.
"The national government is supposed to help us build capacity. We are thankful that they tried but usually, it is a long-term process. You also need to have capacity across the board, not only in one county," Waiguru said.
The governor believes that in two years, she has done a lot that Kirinyaga residents can attest to and that is what she is focussed on at the moment.
"When the time comes, I believe they will give me another chance if I ask them for a second term. Despite the national focus on me and a lot of political attacks and all, those people who are focussing on the agricultural programmes are Kirinyaga people," the governor noted.
In the last two years, her administration has focussed on agriculture, health, trade and infrastructure.
She says that the county government has put up some 300km of murram roads as well as putting up street lights.
On health, Waiguru says her focus has been on putting up extra wards and other facilities across the county working in partnership the national government and private sector.
"We are not focusing on primary healthcare and are in the process of revamping several health centres at the lower level," she added.
In trade, Waiguru says in two years they have been able to build modern markets in Makutano, Wangu'ru, Kutus, Kianyaga, Kiamutugu, Kagumo, Kerugoya and two more will be done by June in Sagana and Kiringoti.
The governor said that her biggest programme is in agriculture as a means to empower young people as well as families.
She noted that the focus is on improved value chain in poultry farming for production of eggs, avocado farming, dairy farming and tomato farming.
Most of these projects have been made possible through fundraising and attracting investors to buy into the programmes.
"We have set up a factory in Kiaga to produce chicken feed as we will be providing the farmers with free chicken feed for six months," she added.
The chickens are not to be raised by household but by groups so that the county provides structures for 1,000 chickens.
The county will market the eggs through the Kirinyaga Investment Development Authority and then pay the farmers.
"We import 10 million eggs from Uganda every month. What Kirinyaga is trying to do is to plug into the market and provide an income. And this is one example of a solution on how to create jobs," Waiguru said.
The county has given farmers avocado 300,00 seedlings and with prices shooting up from Sh10 to Sh48, the residents will be able to make a good income.
On tomatoes, the Kirinyaga county government is focussing on processing and marketing . Waiguru said donors already have given money for a factory.
On dairy farming, Waiguru says that her administration is processing yoghurt and cheese to diversify farmers' income.