Professionalizing The Laikipia County Public Service
Updated on: Aug 31, 2020
Just ten days after his election, Governor Ndiritu Muriithi gathered all other newly-elected Laikipia leaders for a retreat in Naivasha.
For critics, mainly those in the social media, the retreat marked the beginning of reckless spending of taxpayers money. But for deep thinkers and those close to the meeting, it was an innovative forum, unprecedented anywhere in the nation.
The Governor-elect had a presentation rightly titled:
From political promises to implementation. In the retreat were almost all MCAs-elect, MPs-elect Patrick Mariru (Laikipia West), Sarah Korere (Laikipia North) and Catherine Waruguru (Women Representative), local leaders like Francis ole Kaparo and a senior county government managers.
With a generous support from the Office of the President and the National Cohesion and integration Commission (NCIC), the key objective of this unique retreat was to have the newly-elected leaders to reflect on the enormous task ahead of remaining faithful to the promises they had just made to the electorate. Each of the leaders in the room had an opportunity to share his or her manifesto.
We realized that the great people of Laikipia elected us on the basis of the same priorities like provision of water and improvement of roads, Governor Muriithi recalls.
The thrust of the retreat was basically to harmonize all the promises made by each of these leaders into one implementable plan. The leaders were able to identify common priorities that they committed to pursue for the next five years. By the time, the meeting was over on 18th August 2018, the road map of Laikipias development in the next five years was clear. The political promises that the Governor and the other elected leaders had made during the grueling campaign were crystallized into implementable projects within the five-year period. It is here that the 2018-2022 Laikipia County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) was born. An-other unique outcome of this retreat was the Laikipia Leadership Charter that encompasses these joint priorities and leaders commitment to work together.
For critics, mainly those in the social media, the retreat marked the beginning of reckless spending of taxpayers money. But for deep thinkers and those close to the meeting, it was an innovative forum, unprecedented anywhere in the nation.
The Governor-elect had a presentation rightly titled:
From political promises to implementation. In the retreat were almost all MCAs-elect, MPs-elect Patrick Mariru (Laikipia West), Sarah Korere (Laikipia North) and Catherine Waruguru (Women Representative), local leaders like Francis ole Kaparo and a senior county government managers.
With a generous support from the Office of the President and the National Cohesion and integration Commission (NCIC), the key objective of this unique retreat was to have the newly-elected leaders to reflect on the enormous task ahead of remaining faithful to the promises they had just made to the electorate. Each of the leaders in the room had an opportunity to share his or her manifesto.
We realized that the great people of Laikipia elected us on the basis of the same priorities like provision of water and improvement of roads, Governor Muriithi recalls.
The thrust of the retreat was basically to harmonize all the promises made by each of these leaders into one implementable plan. The leaders were able to identify common priorities that they committed to pursue for the next five years. By the time, the meeting was over on 18th August 2018, the road map of Laikipias development in the next five years was clear. The political promises that the Governor and the other elected leaders had made during the grueling campaign were crystallized into implementable projects within the five-year period. It is here that the 2018-2022 Laikipia County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) was born. An-other unique outcome of this retreat was the Laikipia Leadership Charter that encompasses these joint priorities and leaders commitment to work together.
