The Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee will be made a commission, Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa has said.
Eugene said that the government has, through the summit with the Council of Governors chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, resolved to declare that IGRTC a commission.
“What is now remaining is amending the Inter-governmental Relations Act to entrench IGRTC as a commission. Members have already been given a term of tenure for six years and now everything should be running the commission way,” Eugene said.
He spoke during an induction workshop for the new IGRTC team in Naivasha.
The new IGRTC team was urged to ensure that the two levels of government understand their roles as regards devolution to avoid conflict.
Devolution and ASALs CAS Abdul Bahari said that upgrading the institution would help sustain the gains of devolution.
“Once the law is amended, you will be a full commission but you already have the benefits of the same through the tenure. I believe that you were competitively selected vide your qualifications. We shall heavily rely on your negotiation skills which are critical in this institution and always get your facts very clear,” Bahari said.
IGRTC acting chair John Burugu said that team is eager to ensure that all the levels of government work in harmony to ensure that resources are equitably divided and used prudently.
On June 19, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed new members to the committee to finish up the asset register from the defunct local authorities.
They include Angeline Hongo, Perminus Ndimitu, Linet Mavu, Alfred Khangati, John Burugu, Alice Mayaka, Saadia Abdi Kontoma and Wilson ole Pere.
The team is also set to tackle 10 disputes between the national and county governments.
In 2018, nearly half of the 47 counties were wrangling over cross-border resources valued at hundreds of billions of shillings.
Among the pending disputes are those between Nairobi county and the Ministry of Defence, Tharaka Nithi and the Ministry of Interior and Taita Taveta and the ministry of Tourism.
