Counties urged to tame corruption as more functions get devolved

County governments have been challenged to deploy measurers that would reduce corrupt practices that lead to loss and wastage of resources.

This comes amid increase in own source of revenue as well as developed functions following move by the government to transfer billions in immovable assets including land and buildings to county governments.

“We have gazetted Immovable Assets, that is, land and buildings to transfer ownership to the counties through Gazette Notice No 11164 of 12/08/2025 a process that has eluded us for the last 12 years. I’m proud to report that all 14 devolved functions have been conclusively delineated and bundled and formally gazetted. This milestone has eliminated decades old ambiguities that hamper service delivery and fueled intergovernmental disputes,” said President William Ruto during the official opening of the 9^TH Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County.

Following the gazette notice, counties are now legally in charge of 50,000 pieces of land and 80,000 buildings.

“Devolution is indeed the truest and the most progressive definition of bottom-up, social, economic and political transformation model,” said Ahmed Abdullahi, Governor, Wajir County and Chair Council of Governors.

However, counties have been challenged to ensure they address governance setbacks such corruption which leads to waste and loss of county resources.

As such, county government are targeting to automate majority of their services, including revenue which has risen since devolution became operational twelve years ago.

“Counties collected Ksh 58.95B in the financial year 2023/24 which is 72.2pc of their target marking the highest revenue performance in 11 years. 10 counties surpassed their Own Source of Revenue (OSR) target in FY2023/24,” said Dr Mutahi Kahiga, Governor, Nyeri County and Council of Governors Vice-Chairman.

Homa Bay County Governor Gladys Wanga lauded the impact of devolution for improving living standards, enhancing service delivery and improving social justice.

“Our task is to make devolution work for all Kenyans, deliver equity, inclusion and social justice, closing the socio-economic divide and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no one behind,” said Wanga.

The 9^th Devolution Conference of is being held under the theme, For the People, For Prosperity; Devolution as a Catalyst for Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice is expected to have at least 10,000 delegates.