A delay by the national government to create a legal framework that supports regional blocs is hampering their growth, Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has said.
"The national government fears that if it makes the regional blocs stronger and stable, they might rival it. That is why they are not committed to supporting the growth of the blocs," Oparanya said.
He said this has rendered the blocs unstable and inefficient in discharging their mandate.
“The blocs have identified cross-cutting projects to be implemented to benefit residents in counties, especially rural ones, but have been held back due to lack of a legal framework. We urge the national government to fast-track this, so the blocs can take off,” he said.
Oparanya, who chairs the Lake Region Development Bloc (LREB), spoke in his office on Tuesday when he met with a team from the Kenya Devolution Programme (KDP), led by former Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo.
Deputy Governor Philip Kutima, LREB chief executive Abala Wanga, county secretary and head of public service Jacinta Aluoch and finance executive Beatrice Sabana were present.
Oparanya said many donors and development partners shy away from engaging with regional blocs due to a lack of policies that allow such partnerships.
He urged the KDP to include industrialisation in counties to support job creation and improve the economies of rural counties.
Oparanya said the programme should channel resources to the setting up of industries rather than supporting capacity building.
The four pillars of the KDP programme include support for inter-governmental relations and regional economic blocs, effective county planning and budgeting, capacity building for citizens, evidence generation and harnessing UK government investments in counties.
The Kakamega governor said counties have been struggling due to delays in disbursement of funds by the National Treasury. He said the devolved units have not received allocation for development in the last three months.
Odhiambo said KDP will support the blocs in policy development and capacity building.
She said KDP will undertake a four-year programme aimed at building and improving services, with a focus on counties.
Odhiambo said KDP will select 10 counties across the country for implementation of the programme starting in July next year.
"Key areas that we shall focus attention on include supporting research, budgeting, accountability, public participation and new technology," she said.
Oparanya also called for the amendment to the law to allow counties to buy medicine and non-pharmaceutical supplies directly.
He said restrictions requiring that counties must buy medicine from Kemsa had affected the delivery of health services to residents.
“Everyone knows that Kemsa lacks the capacity to meet the demands by counties and that’s why hospitals lack medicine and non-pharmaceutical supplies more often, affecting services to the people,” Oparanya said.
"It is wrong for counties to be forced to purchase drugs from one supplier. The law should be changed to allow counties to get the drugs from different suppliers who are capable of satisfying their needs."
Edited by A.N
