Deputy President William Ruto will not be present at the final day of the 2021 Devolution Conference being held in Makueni County, his office has confirmed.
According to his office, DP Ruto who was invited as the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony will not physically attend the event; instead his speech will be read by a representative.
The DP’s itinerary shows that he is set to visit several areas in Nyandarua County where he is expected to popularize his bottom-up agenda and headline empowerment initiatives.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Devolution Conference under the theme: ‘Multi-level Governance for Climate Action: Sub National Mobilisation in Unlocking the Full Potential of Climate Action during after pandemics’ officially kicked off on Wednesday, November 24, 2021.
Guests at the 2021 Devolution Conference in Makueni. [Photo: Courtesy]
The ceremony was officially opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta who made a virtual address from South Africa.
In his address, the Head of State acknowledged that climate change has negatively impacted the country, but underscored that his government is working on policies to address the issue.
“In the last two years, we witnessed the worst locust outbreak in 25 years, which left about one million people food-insecure in the Horn of Africa… The rising water levels of the Rift Valley Lakes, Lake Victoria, and Turkwel Gorge Dam have displaced nearly 400,000 people in thirteen counties and affected biodiversity, including flamingoes in Lake Nakuru,” his statement read in part.
The opening ceremony was also attended by ODM leader Raila Odinga who called for counties to spend the largest share of their revenues on development and not on personal emoluments.
The Devolution Conference is an annual event that brings together all the 47 county governments and key stakeholder to deliberate on key issues regarding devolution. This was the seventh edition.
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