Governors from Northern Eastern region during a meeting with donors. The donors pledged to finance counties in the region. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
Donor agencies have pledged to support counties in North Eastern region in the implementation of devolution in order to bring services closer to the people.Frontier Council Development Corporation (FCDC) chairman Ali Roba said the donors have pledged 1.1 billion US dollars to finance devolution programmes in eight counties in the region.Mr Roba who is the Mandera Governor said the funds will be used for the building of the Isiolo-Mandera road, fibre optic connectivity, water, agriculture and livestock production and health.The chairman said the governors agreed to work together to lobby for programmes that will improve different sectors including health, agriculture, water, and infrastructure to change locals’ lives.“The design of the project has been done and implementation will start next year. The donors have shown a great interest in working with FCDC to breach the underdevelopment gap,” said Roba.Roba was speaking after governors from the counties met World Bank and UN agencies officials during the Council of Governors retreat in Kwale.Garissa, Mandera, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Lamu, Turkana, and Wajir are the counties under FCDC which will benefit from the funds.The donors included World Bank officials Abdu Muwonge, Annette Akinyi Omolo, UNDP's Tim Colby, Pete Vowles of Department for International Development (DFid) and UN resident coordinator Siddharti Charterjee.