The three-day meeting to be held at Pride Inn Hotel in Mombasa, will bring together all the 47 governors and top national government officials.
The new governors will undergo induction during a meeting that will culminate in county bosses electing the CoG leadership.
President William Ruto is expected to close the meeting on Saturday after intense orientation of the governors.
Ruto will unveil the leadership of the council and CoG’s 2022-27 Strategic Plan before officially closing the conference on Saturday.
At the conference, the new county chiefs will be taken through, among other things, the devolution set-up and legal and policy framework guiding the counties, and governance and leadership skills.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, whose office deals with national and county budgets, and Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, who scrutinises the funds, are among those who will orient the new governors.
However, the election of the CoG leadership will be the climax of the meeting as President Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga will yet again face off in the battle for numbers.
The chairperson, vice chairperson and chairpersons of 18 sub-committees will be up for grabs in the high-stakes election.
Former Embu Governor Martin Wambora and his Kisii counterpart James Ongwae, who were chairman and vice chairman respectively, vacated the office after their terms as governors ended.
Already, the two coalitions are strategising to control the governors' council.
Buoyed the August 9 polls victory and a clean sweep in the National Assembly and Senate in last week’s Speaker and Deputy Speaker election, Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza is plotting the same in the council.
Sources indicate that the coalition has settled on Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru as its candidate for the chairperson's position.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, who was eyeing the seat, has written to CoG CEO Mary Mwiti stepping down.
For Azimio, Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku, Wajir’s Ahmed Abdullahi and Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni) are eyeing the seat.
Lenku told the Star that he has enough experience to steer the council owing to his experience as a CS and a governor in his first term.
He said the CoG leadership should be delinked from party affiliation.
“Some 80 per cent of former chairmen of CoG have been from agricultural zones. Only one has been from pastoral paradises. Isn’t it time to have a pastoralist’s view, especially in the face of the ongoing drought?” Lenku posed.
Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza has 23 governors in its fold with the inclusion of Meru's Kawira Mwangaza (independent), while Azimio has 23.
Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime, also an independent, has yet to publicly declare which coalition he supports.
The CoG chairperson post, created by the Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012 to oversee the activities of the governors, has increasingly emerged as politically influential.
“The council shall elect a chairperson and a vice chairperson from among its members. The chairperson and vice chairperson of the council shall serve for a term of one year and shall be eligible for re-election for one further term of one year,” it reads.
The CoG chairperson is a prestigious position and comes with all the trappings of power as it influences most of the decisions made in the counties.
Edited by A.N
