Stakeholders Seek Safeguards for Staff as MPs Scrutinise Plan to Dissolve Regional Authorities

Kenya, 13 August 2026 - Stakeholders have urged Parliament to protect thousands of employees and ongoing development projects as it considers a Bill seeking to dissolve Kenya’s six Regional Development Authorities (RDAs).

They made the submissions on Thursday before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Regional Development, which is scrutinising the Regional Development Authorities Laws (Repeal) Bill, 2026.

The Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 31 of 2026, seeks to repeal the laws establishing the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA), Ewaso Ng’iro North River Basin Development Authority (ENNDA), Coast Development Authority (CDA), Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA), Ewaso Ng’iro South River Basin Development Authority (ENSDA) and Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA).

The proposed reforms are intended to eliminate duplication of functions, rationalise State corporations and reduce pressure on the Exchequer.

However, stakeholders warned that dissolving the authorities without a clear transition framework could disrupt critical water, irrigation, climate and infrastructure projects, while leaving employees exposed to financial hardship.

The State Department for the ASALs and Regional Development called for the Bill to be amended to include transition provisions, arguing that while the legal entities could be dissolved, their statutory development mandates should continue under other institutions.

Representing Acting Principal Secretary Wanjiku Manyatta, a senior ministry official said the Bill should be renamed the Regional Development Authorities Laws (Repeal and Transition) Bill, 2026.

The department proposed a multi-agency transition committee chaired by the Principal Secretary for the National Treasury, with the Principal Secretary for Regional Development as secretary. The committee would also include managing directors of the six RDAs, two representatives from the Public Service Commission and a representative of the Attorney-General.

However, committee chairman Peter Lochakapong questioned the absence of the Council of Governors from the proposed transition team, noting that some of the functions currently performed by the authorities could be taken over by counties.

“ I am concerned that the proposed committee does not draw representation from the Council of Governors. It may not sit well with them, especially given that some of their roles may be assumed by counties,” Mr Lochakapong said.

The State Department proposed a mandatory 12-month transition period. It also recommended that, within 60 days of the law coming into force, the transition committee should prepare a comprehensive plan covering assets, liabilities, contracts, employees and donor commitments.

It opposed the proposal to transfer all RDA assets to the National Treasury, arguing that specialised infrastructure should instead be transferred to institutions with the relevant mandates.

Such assets include dams, irrigation schemes and processing plants.

The department further proposed that employees with specialised technical skills be deployed to the projects and investments transferred to successor institutions to preserve institutional knowledge and ensure continuity.

It also called for a fiscal impact assessment, arguing that the transition would incur costs related to asset valuation, staff restructuring, legal processes and completion of ongoing projects.

“While the legal entities establishing the Regional Development Authorities may be repealed, the statutory mandates currently undertaken by the authorities should not be abolished. The proposed Bill should, therefore, be expanded to include transition clauses in order to ensure continuity of functions and to avoid potential vacuums,” Ms Manyatta said.


Employee welfare emerged as one of the major concerns during the submissions, with stakeholders calling for all salary arrears and statutory deductions to be cleared before the authorities are dissolved.

TARDA said it had accumulated KSh176.9 million in recurrent pending obligations between January and June this year, including unpaid salaries and unremitted deductions for the Social Health Authority, Affordable Housing Levy, PAYE, NSSF and SACCO loans.

TARDA Managing Director Liban R. Duba urged Parliament to make settlement of the arrears a condition before restructuring.

“Dissolution should not transfer the burden of institutional financial constraints to employees who are not responsible for them,” Mr Duba said.

He said some employees with bank and SACCO loans had defaulted after deductions were not remitted, exposing them to penalties and adverse credit records.

TARDA also proposed an optional voluntary exit package covering severance pay, leave encashment and three months of continued medical cover for employees who opt not to join successor institutions.

ENNDA Managing Director Eng Ali Ibrahim Hassan said the authority had 246 employees whose livelihoods were at stake, noting that each supported several dependants.

He called for a comprehensive staff audit and skills-mapping exercise in partnership with the Public Service Commission before any transition is implemented

Stakeholders also challenged the assumption that the RDAs had completed their mandates, arguing that some development challenges require coordination across county and national boundaries.

ENNDA said it plays a key role in 10 arid and semi-arid counties, where it has constructed 12 mega dams and 103 small water pans with a combined capacity of more than 7.2 million cubic metres.

The authority also operates a Gum Arabic and Resins Processing Factory in Wajir.

“The disparity in the Ewaso Ng’iro North basin is a constitutional concern, not only a development one. The problem in the arid and semi-arid north is not that there are too many institutions working on the development deficit. It is that there are far too few,” Eng Hassan said.

At the Coast, CDA Acting Managing Director Dr Mwanasiti Mohamed Bendera warned that dissolution without an alternative regional coordination mechanism could disrupt major blue economy and infrastructure projects.

She cited the Mwache Multipurpose Dam, Lake Challa Water Resources Project, Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone and management of marine resources within Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

“Removing regional authorities built to perform a coordination role does not clarify the constitutional division of functions; it leaves a gap in it instead,” Dr Bendera said.

She added that abolishing CDA could stall major regional projects and community programmes supporting livelihoods, food security and development in coastal counties.

Mr Lochakapong thanked stakeholders for their submissions and said the committee would consider the views before preparing its report to the National Assembly.

“It is clear that the proponents of the Bill may not have adequately consulted the employees of the affected regional authorities. We will keenly look at the submissions and further subject the Bill to members of the public for them to share their perspectives,” he said.