- Kajiado County suffered a setback as the court ordered stopping the ongoing issuance of title deeds.
- Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa is set to temporarily relocate his offices as of next week.
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The visit by the Royal couple to Kenya, being the first to a commonwealth nation, was the highlight of the week.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla landed in Nairobi Monday night for the start of their four-day tour in the country.
Among the areas they visited in Nairobi during Uhuru Gardens, Embakasi Eastlands Library and City Shamba-an urban agricultural farm business located next to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Nairobi’s Eastlands area.
Governor Johnson Sakaja played host to the visitors.
They also toured Mombasa.
Here are the other major events that happened across the counties this week.
Nakuru
The Court issued orders stopping the county from proceeding with its plan to take over the management of the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital.
The Hospital which sits on a 25-acre land was reverted to the government following the de-gazettement of the lease title given in the hospital's name.
Before the takeover, the hospital, which has operated for more than 100 years, was privately owned.
The action by the county prompted the hospital to move to court accusing the government of illegally revoking its lease without notice.
It maintained that it was the legal owner of the land, even as the county stated that the lease was supposed to expire in April 2021.
Kajiado
The county suffered a setback as the court ordered stopping the ongoing issuance of title deeds.
The issuance of 22,000 title deeds in Kajiado was a move by the county to clear up land issues.
Justice Maxwell Gicheru ordered that the titling of the plots be halted to allow for public input in a plan established by the Kajiado County assembly.
The court also ruled that monies paid to consultants by plot owners be refunded in less than 60 days.
Kakamega
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa is set to temporarily relocate his offices.
He is expected to work from the new offices at Panpaper in Lugari constituency beginning this coming week.
The move follows a planned renovation of several offices at the County headquarters including the office of the governor, located in Kakamega town.
The county boss is set to occupy the refurbished office at the County headquarters once the renovation works are completed and evaluated by County Engineers.
Earlier this year, residents endorsed the county government's new multi-million-shilling county headquarters on the outskirts of Kakamega town.
Barasa's administration plans to relocate the county's main offices from the central business district to Mudiri estate, which is about four kilometres away.
Kisumu
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party moved to consolidate its support base in the Nyanza region after bagging key Kenya Africa National Union (KANU) party officials in Kisumu County.
The defectors who held key party positions at the ward level in the county were welcomed to the party by James Oyolo from Kisumu Central sub-county.
The UDA party is swiftly making moves as they are determined to establish their foot on the region which is a stronghold of the Orange Democratic Party.
Bomet
Governor Hillary Barchok went public to air his concerns over alleged discrimination in the sharing of public funds by the national government.
Council of Governors
On Monday, the Tourism and Wildlife Committee meeting chaired by Narok Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu met to reflect on the accomplishments and challenges over the past year.
Among the key issues deliberated on include the finalization of the County tourism destinations handbook and the development of revenue-sharing mechanisms for National and marine parks, including sharing formula for cross-county parks.
Present during the meeting were Lamu Governor Issa Timamy who is also the vice chairperson, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, and Dhadho Godhana (Tana River).
During the same day, COG CEO Mary Mwiti held talks with the officials from the Ministry of Health, USAID- UNICEF.
Their talks centred on the creation of the Equity Programme on Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health.
The program targets Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera and Wajir Counties in strengthening PHC, through improving their RMNCAH outcomes.
On Tuesday, the Water, Forestry and Natural Resources Management committee led by the committee Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime appeared before the Senate Committee on Land, Environment and Natural Resources for oral submissions on the Water Amendment Bill 2023.
In their submissions, COG strongly advocated for the Protection of water service providers (WSPs) in water service provision against the proposed inclusion of private service providers that bring the risk of running County service providers out of business if equity is not guaranteed.
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The Committee further called for the prioritization of County WSPs in recognizing their water service provision role assigned by the Constitution of Kenya as opposed to profiling of Water-works development agencies.
On the same day, the Blue Economy committee members held their inaugural meeting chaired by Issa Timamy to discuss the accomplishments and challenges over the past year as well as forge a way forward for the next year.
The committee and its partners have prioritized the need to have a blue economy sector forum to coordinate activities and programmes in the sector as well as the need to mainstream and diversify it to include the non-traditional sectors.
Also present were Paul Otuoma who was unanimously re-elected as the committee vice chair.
On Wednesday, a multi-agency task committee meeting chaired by Wildlife principal secretary Silvia Museiya met to discuss the implementation of the directive by President William Ruto on 50/50 sharing of revenue from National Parks with the host County Governments.
Taita Taveta Governor graced the meeting.
The committee discussed the ToRs of the technical working group and the scope of the assignment which includes 23 Terrestrial National Parks and four Marine National Parks.
The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).
On Thursday, the ICT and Knowledge Management Committee meeting chaired by Elgeiyo Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich convened ahead of the governors’ review meeting scheduled for November 7-9 in Narok.
The committee continues to foster partnerships to realize its vision for more digitized Counties.
Education Committee meeting chaired by Kericho’s Eric Mutai also met to reflect on the success, challenges and priorities of the committee in the FY 2023/24.
Additionally, the members were taken through the presidential working party report and the implications on counties.
Committee members present during the meeting were Nyeri’s Mutahi Kahiga and Hillary Barchok (Bomet).
Council of Governors chair Ann Waiguru also received Greece's ambassador Vicky Pantazopoulou.
Their talks explored possible areas of partnership and collaboration in among others agribusiness and value addition of agricultural products, trade and education.
The CoG Environment, Climate Change, Water, Forestry and Natural Resource Management Committees held their inaugural meeting during the day to discuss pertinent issues affecting the sectors.
Thereafter, the members held a consultative meeting with the Forestry principal secretary Gitonga Mugambi aimed at advancing potential areas of collaboration in the implementation of the 15 billion tree-growing program.