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Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery in Kenya
BOX 3.9
Intergovernmental coordination in the agriculture sector The agriculture sector has set up four coordination mechanisms: • A ministerial-level Intergovernmental Forum on Agriculture • A Joint Agricultural Steering Committee to replicate the ministerial-level forum but comprising technical teams
• The Joint Agricultural Sector Consultation and Coordination Mechanism, which brings together all stakeholders in the sector, including the private sector, civil society, and development partners • The Agriculture County Executive Committee Members Caucus to enable counties to coordinate.
Role of the judiciary The judiciary has played an effective role in settling disputes between levels of government. Although the judiciary is not part of the devolved structure of government, the courts play an important role in the implementation of devolution. The constitution vests the supreme court with advisory powers to provide guidance when there are conflicts between various entities. The other courts also have jurisdiction to determine matters concerning disputes between various agencies, including disputes over mandates. Disputes between the two levels of government and between the county assemblies and their executives have been reaching the courts for arbitration. In some instances, the courts have prevented disputes from paralyzing service delivery in the counties. These have included disputes between the National Assembly and the Senate over their respective roles in the division of the revenue bill; disputes between the national and county governments over the division of health functions; or disputes over the responsibility for roads in the counties. In most cases, the courts have rendered judgments that by and large favor devolution. Some of the filed cases have challenged the national government’s actions in continuing to retain functions intended for the counties or establishing new or parallel institutions to carry out functions assigned to the counties. The role the courts have played in resolving these disputes has thus effectively safeguarded devolution and helped to further its objectives.
Weaknesses and recommendations Coordination and cooperation between the national government and county governments can be strengthened. The operations of both cross-sectoral and sector forums have had mixed results. For example, although the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) functions effectively, it is almost solely focused on crisis management during the division-of-revenue process and does not effectively cover the broader range of fiscal and PFM issues that need discussion across national and county governments, including the design of conditional transfers. The failure to effectively agree on how to manage conditional grants has led counties to complain of inadequate and inconsistent
