Do not dissolve regional development authorities, official says

BY BRIAN OTIENO @Yobramos4                                Thursday, October, 2026

Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) play a strategic role in Kenya’s development and should not be dissolved, an industry stakeholder has said.

Coast Development Authority chairman Mzee Mwinyi on Thursday said RDAs coordinate shared resources and complement county governments’ efforts at developing their counties.

“Doing away with these institutions will significantly undermine development efforts in the regions where they are,” Mwinyi said.

He spoke in his office in Mombasa ahead of Friday’s public participation Coast edition, conducted by the National Assembly departmental committee on regional development.

The committee is conducting a nationwide public participation campaign on the Regional Development Authorities Laws (Repeal) Bill, 2026, which is National Assembly Bill No. 31 of 2026).

The bill proposes the dissolution of the country’s six RDAs.

These include CDA, Kerio Valley Development Authority, Lake Basin Development Authority, Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority, Ewaso Ng’iro South River Basin Development Authority and Ewaso Ng’iro North River Basin Development Authority.

The National Treasury is set to acquire the assets and liabilities of the RDAs should they be dissolved, if the bill passes.

This means the Treasury will absorb all their loans, credit facilities, financial obligations, collateral and securities.

Their employees will be transferred to the Public Service Commission on the same terms and conditions they enjoyed at the RDAs.

“RDAs are not a luxury but a constitutional and economic necessity for Kenya’s shared prosperity,” Mwinyi said.

His sentiments echo those of the Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council president Sheikh Juma Ngaom who said doing away with the development authorities, especially the CDA, will be risking development, especially at the Coast, where industries died long time ago and need revival.

“One of the reasons propagated for wanting to dissolve the regional development authorities is the mismanagement of funds,” Sheikh Ngao said.

“Our stand as a council is, if there was embezzlement of funds, it is not a problem of the institutions, but of the managers of those institutions. Thus, arrest those managers and let the institutions be.”

He said dissolving an institution like the CDA because of its managers is wrong and an insult to the people of the Coast and the other regions.

He said it will be unfair to the Coast region, particularly, to dissolve the CDA because the region has already suffered losses of other industries that used to benefit the Coastal people.

He noted that industries and entities like the Ramisi sugar factory, the Bixa industry, cashew nut industry, the Kenya National Petroleum Refinery, have already been killed, and dissolving the CDA will be a step too far for the Coastal region.

“We will not sit and watch this happen,” he said.

Mwinyi questioned whether Kenya could achieve balanced, inclusive and sustainable development without effective institutions to coordinate shared resources, unlock regional economic potential and bridge development gaps between the national and county governments.

The CDA chair argued that the country needed stronger regional development coordination rather than the dismantling of institutions established to facilitate it.

He said the vision of Kenya’s founding fathers was to build a united, prosperous and self-reliant nation in which every region could contribute to and benefit from national development.

“That vision cannot be fully realized if development is pursued in isolated administrative compartments while economic resources, environmental systems, infrastructure networks and livelihoods extend across those boundaries,” he said.

Mwinyi said the Coast region has immense potential, citing its access to the Indian Ocean, agricultural land, fisheries, livestock, forests, mineral resources, tourism assets, cultural heritage and a youthful population.

However, he noted that these resources have not translated into the levels of industrialization, employment, household prosperity and economic independence that residents deserved.

“We must therefore return to the fundamental question of development. How do we convert what we have into what our people need? The answer lies in coordinated investment, value addition, technology, good governance and institutions that can unite regional priorities into one coherent economic agenda,” Mwinyi said.

He said if adequately resourced, the CDA has the vision and commitment to help position the Coast region to embrace technological change while building a resilient, diversified and productive economy.

“The Coast does not need development driven by political rivalry or competing institutional interests. It needs leaders and institutions that can work together around shared priorities.

“Our people must be placed above institutional egos, political divisions and jurisdictional competition,” he said.

Ends.....

PICs:

CDA chair Mzee Mwinyi in his office  on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO