January 2012: Understanding Devolution in Kenya

Tasks for your

County Government

Functions of County Governments

1. Agriculture, including—

(a) Crop and animal husbandry;

(b) Livestock sale yards;

(c) County abattoirs;

(d) Plant and animal disease control;

and(e) Fisheries.

2. County health services,

including, in particular—

(a) County health facilities and pharmacies;

(b) Am­bu­lance services;

(c) Promotion of primary health care;

(d) Li­censing and con­trol of un­der­takings that sell food to the public;

(e) Vet­eri­nary ser­vices (ex­cluding regu­lation of the Profession);

(f) Cem­eteries, fu­neral parlours and cre­ma­to­ria;

and(g) Refuse re­moval, refuse dumps and solid waste disposal.

3. Con­trol of air pollution,noise pollution,

other public nui­sances and out­door advertising.

4. Cul­tural ac­tivities, pub­lic en­ter­tainment and pub­lic amenities, in­cluding—(a) Betting, casinos and other forms of gambling;

(b) Racing;

(c) Liquor licensing;

(d) Cinemas;

(e) Video shows and hiring;

(f) Libraries;

(g) Museums;

(h) Sports and cul­tural activities and facilities;

and(i) County parks,beaches and rec­re­ation facilities.

5. County trans­port, in­cluding—

(a) County roads;

(b) Street lighting;

(c) Traffic and parking;

(d) Public road transport; and

(e) Ferries and harbours, ex­cluding the regu­lation of international and national shipping and matters related thereto.

6. Animal control and welfare, in­cluding—

(a) Li­censing of dogs; and

(b) Fa­cilities for the accommo­dation, care and burial of animals.

7. Trade de­vel­opment and regu­lation, including—

(a) Markets;

(b) Trade li­cences (ex­cluding regu­lation of professions);

(c) Fair trading practices;

(d) Local tourism; and

(e) Cooperative so­ci­eties.

8. County planning and de­vel­opment, in­cluding—

(a) Statistics;

(b) Land survey and mapping;

(c) Bound­aries and fencing;

(d) Housing; and

(e) Electricity and gas re­ticu­lation and en­ergy regu­lation.

9. Pre-pri­mary edu­cation,

village polytechnics,

homecraft centres and childcare fa­cilities.

0. Imple­men­tation of specific na­tional government policies on natural re­sources and en­vi­ron­men­tal con­ser­vation, in­cluding—

(a) Soil and water con­ser­vation; and

(b) Forestry.

 11. County public works and ser­vices, in­cluding—

(a) Storm water management systems in built-up areas; and

(b) Water and sanitation services.

12. Fire fighting services and di­sas­ter man­agement.

13. Control of drugs and por­nog­ra­phy.

14. En­suring and coordinating the par­tici­pation of commu­nities and locations in gov­er­nance at the local level and assisting commu­nities and locations to develop the ad­min­is­trative capacity for the effective exercise of the functions and powers and par­tici­pation in gov­er­nance at the local level.

Source: Fourth Schedule of the Con­sti­tution of Kenya (Republic of Kenya (RoK, 2010)