MWI Restructuring and Institutional Capacity Building on Water Governance

The water sector reforms in Kenya have resulted in the formation of semi-autonomous government agencies (SAGAs) under the Water Act 2002 to implement functions which were previously undertaken by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI). This has left the Ministry with the functions of policy formulation, coordination and monitoring of the performance of the sector.

For the SAGAs to be operational and able to continue with the execution of the duties that were previously undertaken by the Ministry, it has been necessary to deploy most of the staff and facilities which were under the Ministry to the new bodies. A Transfer Plan was put in place for this exercise to facilitate this transfer.

While much has been done to implement the Transfer Plan, a number of key actions of the Plan were not satisfactorily implemented. These include the restructuring of the Ministry headquarters in response to its new mandate and unresolved issues on the re-deployment of ex-Ministry staff and their absorption by the SAGAs.

The Water Service Regulatory Board (WASREB) has as one of it’s functions to develop guidelines for and provide advice on the cost effective and efficient management and operation of water service. In the course of audit inspections it was found that there is no understanding on the role of the board of directors and management which has led to confusion in the affected entities. WASREB also encountered governance issues that are beginning to replicate across the country showing the two problems need a nationwide approach to educate the sector starting at policy level.

This short term consultancy was commissioned to:

1. Look at the restructuring of the MWI headquarters and suggest the establishment structure for the departments and, in details, the restructuring of the departments of water services and water resources management.
2. Make suggestions on the resolution of the pending staff deployment issues.
3. Generally make suggestions on the way forward in the handling and, where necessary, fast-tracking the pending activities of the Transfer Plan.
4. Provide advisory support to WASREB on water Governance, consolidating the experience of governance challenges in the water services sector and separation of roles between boards and directors and management teams of water services sector and provide a way forward.