COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF MERU

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

SPEECH BY HON. KIRAITU MURUNGI, GOVERNOR OF MERU COUNTY DURING THE 7^TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS & INDEPENDENT OFFICES, 12^TH OCTOBER, 2018

His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces

Hon. Prof. Margaret Kobia, Cabinet Secretary-Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs

Dr Lydia Nzomo, the Chairperson of the Forum of Chairpersons of Constitutional Commissions and Holders of Independent Offices.

Honourable Members of Parliament

Chief Administrative Secretary

Chairpersons, Commissioners & Holders of Independent Constitutional Offices

The Speaker

The Deputy Governor

CEC Members

Honourable Members of County Assembly

All Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Your Excellency, you were in Meru on 1^st June 2018 to preside over the 55^th Madaraka Day Celebrations which were hosted by Meru County. It is my great honor and privilege to welcome you to Meru County again. Allow me to thank the organizers of this high level national conference for choosing Meru County to host this great event.

Excellency, allow me to specially recognize and thank the Chair of this Forum, Dr Lydia Nzomo and her team, for the tremendous effort that they have put to make this occasion a resounding success. We wish you a very successful and fruitful conference and a great time in Meru.

Your Excellency, allow me to specially thank you for your great love and friendship for the people of Meru. You have always been there for us. We too shall always be there for you. We shall firmly stand with you, even when the going becomes tough.

The last time you were here, I was accused of bringing up local issues in a National Celebration. I promise I will not do so today. All the roads I was complaining about are now being fixed. Your Deputy President has even been here two times to check on the same. Today, just allow me to say a BIG THANK YOU for all the great things Your Government is doing for the people of Meru. I want to thank you for appointing several chairs to the Constitutional Commissions sitting here today.

I am very happy with the theme of this Conference; ‘Public Participation: Pathway to Sustainable Development’. It emphasizes the need to involve members of public in making decisions that affect their daily lives. Here in Meru, we truly believe in participatory governance and participatory development. We are not merely reading about public participation in text books and seminar papers. We are trying our best to experiment and experience with it here on the ground. We have established various institutions and committees to enhance participatory planning, implementation and oversight of our development projects and programmes.

We have created the Meru Economic & Social Council (MESC) which is a high level all inclusive participatory think tank for rapid socio-economic transformation of Meru County. MESC is chaired by the former Head of Public Service, Amb. Francis Muthaura who you have appointed Chairman of KRA. Titus Ibui-Chairman of LAPPSET, Hon. Florence Kajuju-the Ombudsman, and even the Chairperson of this Forum, Dr Lydia Nzomo are all members of MESC. Our most distinguished sons and daughters in academia, civil service, professions, policy makers, entrepreneurs, youth and women leaders are members of MESC. We are currently working with MESC to develop a Vision 2040 for Meru to chart our strategic direction and identity and identify flagship projects to be implemented in Meru County in the next 20 years.

We have created a Ward Development Committee for each of our 45 wards. We have allocated Kshs.20 million for each totalling to Kshs. 900 million per year. This is more than a third of our total development budget. Members of Ward Development Committees are charged with the responsibility of identifying and prioritizing development projects to be implemented by the County Government at the ward level. People have the final say on what they want done in their wards. We don’t dictate to them. We just implement. Through Ward Development Committees various grassroot projects such as rural roads, dispensaries, ECDE classrooms, sports tournaments and water projects are being implemented in every village in Meru County.

We have also created the Meru Youth Service which is led by the youth to fight youth poverty and helplessness and convert our youth into agents of positive change and development. We have also elected market committees to manage our towns and markets. We have elected health committees to manage all our health centres and dispensaries. We have created borehole committees to manage every borehole that we drill and to ensure its sustainability. Our committees are vibrant and committed as they play these roles.

We are here today to celebrate our constitution and the national values and institutions enshrined in it. All these Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices were created to protect Kenyans in their dignity, against oppression, injustice and economic deprivation.

The Constitution cannot be divorced from the daily lives of the people. If you ignore all its legal jargon and complexities you will discover that the Kenya we are seeking through these institutions, is simply the society Jesus Christ was talking about 2000 years ago. A simple society where people love one another, and where the greatest and the least are all heard and treated fairly.

I strongly disagree with those who are saying we have too many commissions and some should be scrapped because they are very expensive. The cost of dictatorship and oppression is much greater. It cannot be calculated in monetary terms and sometimes it is regrettably calculated in blood.

Meru County is a clear testimony that devolution is a great idea, and is working. But we are not there yet. We have not reached Caanan. We are still on the journey to make devolution better. As one of the makers of the Constitution, I know it is not perfect, and it needs to be improved. For instance the one -third gender rule cannot be fully implemented without constitutional amendment.

As the Governor of Meru, I am a devolutionist and I support the Pesa Mashinani Initiative. I would like the Constitution to be amended to increase the percentage of allocation to counties to at least 40%. In Japan, which has 47 counties like Kenya, County Governments get 60% and the National Government 40%. That is why County Governments are able to build their own electric railways. I therefore support the referendum. My only worry is that unless it is very carefully handled, a referendum at this point in our history could tear this Nation apart, and plunge us into the chaos and destruction, which we saw in 2007/2008. We want to continue enjoying the peace and stability brought about by the handshake.

Lastly Your Excellency, what this Country needs is much more than a change in law or the Constitution. As Judge Learned Hand said during a speech in New York during the 2^nd World War, in 1944;

"We should not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts… Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there is no constitution, no law, no court can save it"

Your Excellency, Commissioners, Brothers and Sisters let us in our hearts of hearts truly believe in democracy, justice and fairness.

God Bless You Sir

God Bless You All

God Bless Kenya.

Kiraitu Murungi

Governor, Meru County