Nanok elected Council of Governors chair

Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok has been elected the Council of Governors chairman taking over from Meru County boss Peter Munya whose term ended today.

In elections held on Monday, Taita Taveta Governor John Mruttu was re-elected to serve as the deputy chairman with his Kiambu counterpart William Kabogo elected new CoG chief whip.

The new Council of Governors deputy chairman and chief whip face tough tests in August General Election after choosing to seek re-election as independent candidates following defeat in the just-ended party primaries. If the two politicians lose in the upcoming election, they will serve at the discretion of the new governors’ council.

Speaking after his election, Nanok pledged to continue pushing for implementation of devolution during his one-year tenure and praised his predecessors Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Munya for setting high standards of governance.

Nanok, who was recently involved in a public altercation with President Uhuru Kenyatta over sharing of county oil revenues, becomes the third council chairman and has lauded the council for standing firm in the midst of challenges bedeviling devolution.

“The Council of Governors is a benchmark of good governance linking county government to the national government,” said Governor Nanok.

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The outgoing chairman Munya said county governments’ initiatives to upscale farm technology and mechanization services had greatly reduced the burden and drudgery of agriculture work.

Speaking while delivering State of Devolution Address, Governor Munya added that devolved units had played a critical role in health care transformation.

“County governments have continued to allocate an average of 21 per cent of the budget to health services. In the last three three financial years, a total of Sh 200 billion out of the Sh954 billion allocated to counties, was allocated to the health sector,” said Governor Munya.

However, the outgoing chairman warned that county governments might go into the new financial year without their budgets in place after the constitutional mandated mediation process between the National Assembly and Senate collapsed due to lack of consensus.

“The Constitution obligates counties to only develop their budgets after the approval of the Division of Revenue by Parliament. We are therefore urging Parliament to treat this issue with the utmost urgency it deserves. The mediation period elapsed on April 30^th 2017, the Bill having been forwarded to the mediation team on March 31^st 2017,” pleaded Munya.

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