Lokichar, August,29, 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
Turkana County’s Office of the County Attorney (OCA) has rallied a team of legal practitioners to review the County’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Bill 2024 to address inconsistencies and align it with the relevant laws of Kenya.
Director of Litigation, Ekal Lokuruka, led the sensitisation of participants on the 15-page proposed bill. The participants were directors and stakeholders attending the dissemination of the Financial Year 2023/2024 M&E Report.
Addressing other participants on the significance of the bill once enacted, John Ekaru, Ag. Director of M&E, said there will be a structure in place to closely monitor the development projects. The monitoring, he said, will result in timely reporting and dissemination.
“To address low projects completion rate, the formation of functional M&E committees up to the grassroots level will ensure close and timely monitoring of the development projects. This can only be achieved if this bill is passed and proposed M&E structures are implemented as required by County Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (CIMES),” said Ekaru.
He indicated the proposed bill will establish Turkana CIMES to monitor and evaluate the implementation of county policies, programmes and projects.
Ag. Director Ekaru further added it promotes timely and accurate reporting, sharing and use of monitoring and evaluation findings to inform decision-making and resource allocation.
Monitoring and evaluation, he disclosed, is an emerging inclination in the public sector to promote sustainable development, transparency and accountability on the utilisation of public resources.
He added that the operationalize M&E bill, when passed, will to act as a legal tool to support M&E interventions, just like PFM Act 2012, which stipulates prudence public resources spending.
At the same time, he lauded the partnership between County Government and development partners among them USAID Nawiri and UNICEF Kenya for currently facilitating implementation of CIMES guidelines and meeting its requirements. This included development of County Indicator Handbook, County Statistical Abstract and supporting the directorate.
Assistant Director of M&E, Michael Ekwanga, acknowledged Turkana is among a few counties that passed policy on Monitoring and Evaluation.
He said the policy was expected to enhance county departments and partners’ capacities to manage activities at departmental, programme, and project levels to promote service delivery.
