The government through the Ministry of Co-operatives, Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has affirmed its commitment to transfer all remaining devolved functions, to counties in line with the constitutional requirements.
Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development, Simon Kiprono Chelugui, said all the functions pending in his Ministry, will be handed over to the counties by the end of February, as directed by President William Ruto.
“After the consultation, which was chaired by the President, we agreed on the timelines on the transfer of all the pending functions and this is on course,” he said.
The CS was speaking in Naivasha, Wednesday, after meeting the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC), to deliberate on mechanisms, to ensure a seamless transfer of the pending functions, that are in his Ministry.
He was accompanied by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the State Department for Co-operatives, Mr. Patrick Kilemi.
The three-week consultation meeting between the Ministry and IGRTC, is intended to promote and facilitate cooperative decision-making and ensure that policies and activities across all spheres, especially the transfer of functions to the devolved units, will not in any way hurt service delivery and continue to meet the needs of the citizens effectively and ensure harmonious co-existence between the governments through cooperation, consultation, and coordination.
Chelugui said during a meeting with the President in December last year, progress was achieved on the timelines where they were given two months to transfer the functions and the meeting in Naivasha was meant to find a common ground for the transfer of roles and responsibilities between the two governments without disrupting the ongoing activities.
The CS noted that the Cooperatives and Micro and Small Enterprise Co-operatives (SMEs) are key to the Government`s Bottom –Up Transformation Agenda (BETA), with the Savings and Credit Societies (SACCOS), contributing 30 percent of the country`s savings and announced that the sector recorded a growth of 12 percent growth last year, due to proper and efficient management in the sector.
“Consequently, it’s very important that the transfer of these functions and responsibilities be done gradually and thoughtfully, so as not to disrupt functions,” Chelugui said and added that the transfer of resources too, will be done progressively, terming it a work in progress.
The Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) Chair; Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Kithinji Kiragu, on his part said the transfer of the devolved functions is driven by constitution and the role of the ministries concerned is to provide policy, to guide the implementation and set standards and support capacity building of counties and they absorb the functions.
The Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC), is a state agency established by an Act of Parliament which is the Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012.
By Mabel Keya– Shikuku
