Kenya: Gachagua Urges County Governments to Focus on Service Delivery

19 April 2023
Capital FM (Nairobi)

Mombasa — Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua has called on county governments to focus on service delivery to Kenyans.

Speaking after officially opening the deputy governors consultative meeting in Mombasa, the deputy president urged the deputy governors to uphold the tenets of devolution by playing their role of advising the county heads to ensure smooth delivery of all devolved functions.

"Ahead of the August 9, 2022 General Election, hardly any deputy governor was working in sync with their governors. While part of the acrimony was due to competition of ideas and political ambition, the first and main casualty was service delivery; the victim- the people," he stated.

"Hardly a year into office, we have already witnessed, a repeat, though not of the same magnitude; it is a red flag. I request that you focus on rebuilding your counties for the good of the people who gave you this mandate. Keep the eye on the ball."

The DP also implored the deputy governors to foster unity in their counties through helping the governors unify all departments in the counties for smooth service delivery saying the Kenya kwanza government is keen on ensuring devolution works.

"While misunderstandings are bound to happen in political leadership, they should not be allowed to degenerate to fallouts. This defeats the essence of grassroots leadership and indeed, devolution -a critical component of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Counties are a key ingredient to the Kenya Kwanza Plan. We want to see devolution working."

The DP also emphasized the government's commitment to restore the economy.

"We have agreed that the only way to get our economy to where Kibaki left it, is through tax collection. Let nobody push us into borrowing money from banks at exorbitant rates. The economy has started showing good signs of recovery," he stated.

"The cost of unga will continue going down. We intend to bring to about 130 to 120 ksh because that is what is sustainable. The president insisted that the way to go is through subsidized production in any case the previous subsidy was not working. We are not going to reinstate subsidies even if they go to the streets. We will put money where it matters." - DPPs

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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