Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has ordered the boards of six regional development authorities (RDAs) to suspend all promotions, new recruitment, new appointments, and implementation of new projects with immediate effect.
In the new directive, the Coast Development Authority, Ewaso Ng’iro North Development Authority (ENNDA), Ewaso Ng’iro South Development Authority (ENSDA), Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA), Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA), and the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) will cease their key operations.
The move comes to pave the way for the reorganisation of the cash-strapped entities as the government pushes forward its parastatal reform program by the Cabinet in January.
The RDAs have been subject to state review since March 2024 to align them with the new Constitution that provides for developed functions.
Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) tower in Eldoret.
The Kenyan Constitution of 2010 provided for fresh functions of RDAs amidst the onset of devolution.
The review would help assess the impact, roles, and effectiveness of RDAs to be aligned with the activities of counties to spur development. However, the review would not result in the RDAs being transferred to county governments.
The latest development follows the events of a Cabinet meeting led by President William Ruto in Kakamega State Lodge on Tuesday, January 21, where a resolution was reached to merge 42 state corporations into 20 parastatals, citing the move as a measure to enhance operational efficiency and eliminate redundancy.
The decision would also see the dissolution of some State corporations with their functions reassigned to relevant ministries or other state entities. Corporations with outdated mandates that can be efficiently handled by the private sector would either be divested or dissolved.
In the new directive, the six RDAs were listed as corporations set for divestiture to the private sector or to be dissolved altogether. The effect of this would see radical changes in terms of employment, service delivery, and overall efficiency.
Aside from fiscal pressures brought by strained government resources, the Cabinet noted that many of the parastatals were found to have been struggling to meet their contractual and statutory obligations. This had the effect of a huge accumulation of pending bills.
”These reforms have been necessitated by increasing fiscal pressures arising from constrained government resources, the demand for high-quality public services, and the growing public debt burden,” the dispatch read in part.
”Many State Corporations have struggled to meet their contractual and statutory obligations, leading to an accumulation of pending bills amounting to KSh94.4 billion as of March 31, 2024,” added the dispatch.
Members of the Cabinet during a special Cabinet meeting at State House Nairobi on February 11, 2025.
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PCS