President Uhuru Kenyatta has outlined roles for Regional and County Commissioners, together with security personnel, aimed at advancing the government’s development agenda and the country’s stability. He was speaking at a security meeting at State House, Mombasa, which brought together Regional and County Commissioners, security personnel and other leaders including Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, Interior CS Karanja Kibicho and DPP Noordin Haji. The Head of State has reiterated that the Regional heads and representatives have a critical role to play in ensuring effective implementation of the Big Four Agenda given that they act as his eyes on the ground, and as a result, he has told them they need to communicate in their respective regions and Counties the essence of the Big Four Agenda, “I expect you to report emerging implementation constrains and highlight important gains at the grassroot level,” he said.
He said the Regional and County Commissioners should be the lead officers of the national government development agenda in their respective jurisdictions, adding that they’ll be expected to chair weekly regional development implementation committees, while County commissioners will chair the County development implementation committees, “You will be provided with clear guidelines on the procedures and reporting requirements.” President Kenyatta further charged them to protect public resources, “Protect them as if they were your own. Kenyans expect no less from all of us,” he affirmed. He said the Commissioner should treat malpractices like fraud and misuse of resources as a threat to the unity, well being and security of the nation, adding that they shouldn’t wait for directions when dealing with such cases, since it’s their responsibility to take action.
He also called for effective management of environmental resources, “Regional and County Commissioners are directed to reactivate County Environmental committees which will be responsible for regulation and protection of all gazetted forests and vital water towers in their respective jurisdictions,” said President Kenyatta, outlining that as chairs of the Committees they’ll be personally held responsible in case of any environmental destruction. With the focus the education sector has received recently, and the government’s focus on a 100% transition for candidates seeking to join secondary schools, the President said he expects the Commissioners to play a crucial role in ensuring no child is left behind.
On the issues of security, he revealed that he expects the County Commissioners will ensure every County has launched and is implementing a County Action Plan to prevent violent extremism. He lauded the way security agencies handled the terror attack at Dusit Complex, outlining his desire to see all government agencies and departments operating in a seamless manner like the security docket is currently operating, regardless of the agencies. “All government agencies and departments ,must subscribe to the one government approach policy. I will be requiring all Ministries, Departments as well as semi autonomous agencies to embrace the same multi agency approach under the national security council,” he said.
