Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro has lauded efforts by the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) in its effort to implement the 10th Summit resolution to finalise on the Transfer of Devolved Functions and Assets that were assigned to devolved units.
The program had stalled for over 10 years in the implementation of devolution in the country.
Kilifi County becomes one of the first counties to receive valuation reports on Land buildings and motor vehicles which he says this move will enable the county to clean its asset register to safe guard county properties that have been attracting land grabbers which include the county social service and veterinary land at a cost of 700 million where the county was forced to demolish illegal structures by individuals purporting to have ownership documents.
Already the county plans to construct new county head squatters at a cost of 250 million that will centralise service delivery to citizens.
Kilifi County has a total of 1228 public land that ought to be transferred to the county government, many of them have been grabbed or encroached by squatters which the governor says they are closely working with other government agencies to make sure that all the listed land is secured to serve the public interest.
The county now embarks on processes to change ownership of the assets with the multi-agency team and undertake development projects in the transferred land parcels.
The Governor however says its unfortunate that some vehicles were missing in the asset register even during the recent valuation exercise which the county will seek to establish and find out on the missing vehicles also appreciating.
IGRTC CEO Dr. Kipkurui Chepkwony says the committee together with the state department of devolution are currently finalizing on the valuation and transfer of assets belonging to the defunct local authorities, and devolved functions to counties as well as unbundling and transfer of all devolved functions as directed by the Summit which aims at deepening devolution for better service delivery at the grass roots.
Kilifi County received a total of 259 movable assets mainly motor vehicles that cost Ksh.51 Million a process that began way back from the transition Authority.
The exercise aims at addressing audit queries emanating from expenditures on motor vehicles that are not in the county asset register, Proper Asset management by every county government becomes key with ownership documents which the CEO says the hand over of movable assets will as well enable counties to establish missing vehicles that may have disappeared during the transition period.
Dr. Chepkwony also noted that the good working relations between the two levels of government through consultation, coordination and cooperation has been a key factor in making sure that devolution works for better service delivery to Kenyans.
