Garissa Governor Nathif Jama at the forum./STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Garissa has launched the implementation of a new legal framework that gives municipalities, towns and other urban areas a clearer path to raise funds, manage services and respond to local priorities.
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The initiative follows the operationalisation of the Garissa County Financing of Cities and Urban Areas Act, 2026, which sets out how urban authorities will be financed and defines their responsibilities and revenue streams.
The Garissa County Assembly is among a small number of county assemblies to have enacted legislation dedicated to financing municipalities and other urban areas.
Speaking at the close of a two-day sensitisation retreat on the Act, Governor Nathif Jama said the law was designed to strengthen the financial capacity of municipalities and urban authorities to meet residents’ needs.
“This is a historic piece of legislation and, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind in the country, positioning Garissa at the forefront of strengthening urban governance under devolution,” Jama said.
He said the legislation would enable municipalities and other urban authorities to raise, collect and spend designated revenues within the legal and institutional framework governing county finances.
“The Act strengthens devolution further by empowering our municipalities and urban areas with greater autonomy to raise, collect and utilise their own revenues,” he said.
Jama warned, however, that implementation must produce better services and not leave the Act as a legal instrument with little effect on the ground.
With adequate funding, sound management and effective oversight, he said, municipalities could drive local economic growth, attract investment and create jobs.
County Assembly Speaker Abdi Idle Gure said the legislation’s impact would be judged by how consistently and responsibly it was implemented and how public resources were managed.
“The true value of this Act will be determined not by its enactment, but by the effectiveness, consistency and accountability of its implementation,” Gure said.
The Act covers the financing of cities, municipalities, towns and markets.
It assigns urban authorities more clearly defined duties in the delivery and management of services within their jurisdictions.
Designated urban authorities will be allowed to collect and retain specified revenues, while the law provides mechanisms through which the county government can allocate resources to them.
The functions assigned to municipalities and other designated urban authorities include solid waste management, street lighting, parking, bus parks and taxi ranks, outdoor advertising and urban markets.
Their responsibilities will also include social halls, abattoirs, building approvals and development control, recreational parks and playgrounds, regulation of hawking and street trading, as well as maintenance of urban roads.
The framework is intended to place the management of these services closer to residents and make urban authorities more directly answerable for the quality of service delivery.
Municipal officials who took part in the sensitisation meeting said the law would give them a firmer basis for planning and funding local priorities.
They added that managing resources closer to the community could encourage residents to help set priorities and examine how public funds are used.
The law also aims to prevent duplication between county departments and urban authorities by requiring the county government to reorganise its departments whenever functions are transferred to municipalities or other urban authorities.
The provision is intended to draw a clearer line between responsibilities and stop different levels of government from performing the same duties in urban areas.
Khadija Idriss, chairperson of the County Assembly Committee on Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development, said the assembly would rely on its legislative and oversight mandate to track implementation of the law.
“Through our legislative, oversight and representation mandates, the assembly remains a critical partner in ensuring the framework delivers the intended benefits to the people,” Khadija said.
The Act gives both the county government and urban authorities greater responsibility for ensuring that expanded financial and administrative powers are supported by proper planning, transparency and accountability.
