Sunday, July 7, 2013

Executive committed to devolution, says Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Kosgei during his thanksgiving church service at AIC Kapsabet Mission Station. Mr Ruto assured Kenyans that the National government is committed to helping county governments to build capacity to deliver on their constitutional mandate.Deputy President William Ruto and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Kosgei during his thanksgiving church service at AIC Kapsabet Mission Station. Mr Ruto assured Kenyans that the National government is committed to helping county governments to build capacity to deliver on their constitutional mandate.   NATION MEDIA GROUP
By DPPS
Posted  Sunday, July 7  2013 at  17:27
Deputy President William Ruto has reiterated the national government’s commitment to support devolution by ensuring that county governments are fully supported to deliver on their mandate.
He dismissed as pure propaganda claims that the executive was reluctant to let county governments take-off noting that there was absolutely no competition between the two levels of government.
"There is no competition between the national government and the county governments, instead there is synergy and cooperation between the two ensure that we deliver on the promise made to Kenyans", he said.
Speaking at Kabsabet AIC church on Sunday after attending a thanks giving serving for Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Kosgey, the deputy president explained that contrary to the issues being raised the national government and county governments are working together.
Mr Ruto pointed out that the success of county governments was paramount to the success of the national government.
However, the Deputy President asked county governments to avoid false starts by exercising frugal use of public funds through making budgetary allocations that maximize on development expenditure as opposed to recurrent expenditure.
"County governments must start on the right note. We want to limit recurrent expenditure including salaries to 30 per cent so that 70 per cent goes to development expenditure like improvement of service delivery to Kenyans, agricultural development, infrastructure among others", he said.
At the same time, the Deputy President stated the Jubilee governments resolve to expand agriculture as the back bone of the country’s economy.
"The Jubilee manifesto puts a lot of emphasis on agriculture as sector that is key to the expansion of the country’s economy", he said.
He assured farmers that the government will enhance extension services, guarantee prompt supply of farm inputs like fertilizer and seeds.
On value addition to farm products, the deputy president said that plans were underway to build processing plants to improve quality so that farmers can earn greater profits.
"To carry out value addition, we need to build factories so that farmers get higher incomes from their produce -that is the direction we would like to go", he posed.
The deputy president who accompanied by four senators and over ten MPs revealed that Sh6 billion has been set aside in the national budget towards enabling women and youth start businesses.
On security, Mr Ruto said that adequate funds have been set aside to buy vehicles for the police force to carry out their duties of law enforcement, noting that Kenyans should freely carry out their daily activities without fear.


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