By consensus, Kenya’s county governors have granted the current leadership of their council another term in office.
On Monday, the county bosses agreed that Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, Mwangi Wa Iria (Murang’a) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) get a fresh mandate as chairman, vice-chairman and chief whip respectively.
No elections were held after it emerged that Mr Oparanya and Prof Kibwana did not have opponents.
Only Mr Wa Iria’s seat was contested, with Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu) seeking to oust the Murang’a Governor but they pulled out after consensus was reached.
“The white smoke came much earlier and I am here to congratulate you. The leadership of CoG is critical in the realisation of the Big Four agenda and Vision 2030,” Devolution Secretary Eugene Wamalwa said.
“It’s been a difficult year but our partnership in dealing with floods, drought and now locusts will see us through. Disaster risk management is a shared function and I assure you of total commitment from the national government. Already Sh5 billion has been set aside for the reconstruction of the lives of the victims of flooding in the affected counties. Parliament should expedite the passing of the disaster risk management bill that will help entrench a policy on disasters in the country,” he added.
The CoG is founded on the Inter-Governmental Relations Act.
It consists of all the 47 elected governors and provides a forum for consultation among county governments and sharing of information on performance of the counties in the execution of their functions.