Ministry fights to control Sh193 billion climate change cash from UN

A flooded homestead in Nyando, Kisumu County. The government is scrambling to control Sh193 billion from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Starved for cash, the Government is scrambling to control billions of shillings from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), pitting senior officials against each other in a fierce turf war.

The money in question, Sh193 billion ($2.227 billion), is just Sh3 billion shy of what the national government allocated to the county governments in the 2013/2014 financial year that ended on June 30.

And it comes even as thousands of Kenyan jobs are about to be lost due to cutbacks in funding of various programmes by the United States.

Such is the intensity of the fight for control of the winfdfall that an appointment communicated to UNFCCC by officials in Deputy President William Ruto’s office was revoked by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua. A fortnight ago, a letter from Harambee House Annex, the office of Deputy President William Ruto, nominated former Environment Permanent Secretary Daudi Ali to be Kenya's focal point for climate change and communicated the appointment to UNFCCC.

The Standard established that high-ranking officials made the appointment in controversial circumstances and that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy were reportedly kept in the dark.

Kinyua, who is also Uhuru's Chief of Staff, reportedly also learnt of the appointment when it had been done, and quickly sent another letter revoking the nomination.

Kinyua's letter to UNFCCC asserted that the focal point for Kenya on all matters regarding climate change is the Ministry of Environment, in particular, Cabinet Secretary Judy Wakhungu, Principal Secretary Lawrence Lesiyampe and the director in charge of climate change in the ministry.

"This matter started in the last government because the office of the former Prime Minister insisted on creation of a council to manage climate change that would sit in his office.

"However, in the current case, the Ministry of Environment has made it clear that climate change is an issue under the ministry which it intends to keep," said a highly placed State official in Kinyua's office, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

There are concerns the conflicting signals could potentially expose the country as one that makes incoherent decisions on important international issues.

Senior government officials are divided about the mode of handling the cash windfall. One camp is keen to have the Environment ministry oversee the funding, while another involving officials in Ruto's office is rooting for creation of a council.

"The reason you see all this happening is because climate change has so much money. As we speak, people are making a fortune. So far, Kenya is attracting US$2.227 billion (approximately Sh193 billion) annually.

"Developed countries offered to be giving at least US$100 billion (Sh8.5 trillion) annually to climate change. We need structures to control this money because right now it is going to everybody," said Emuhaya MP Wilbur Ottichilo, a member of the House Environment committee and the proponent of the Climate Change Bill 2014.

Kenya is a signatory to the UNFCCC and is currently attracting more than US$2 billion under climate change fund.

National Treasury has already created a Climate Change Finance Unit to handle funds coming in under the umbrella of climate change.

Since the days of the former Kanu government, Kenya is highly rated in terms of climate change and has since become the point of reference across the African continent.

So deep are the conspiracies that some critical decisions committing the country to certain arrangements with the UN have been made while bypassing the President and his deputy.

Three top officials at Harambee House Annex recently invited some members of the National Assembly committee on Environment to a meeting at Hotel Intercontinental.

Some officials from the DP's office attended the meeting with the MPs to lobby the House to approve the establishment of a council.

MPs who attended the talks said the officials insisted there was need for the committee to approve the creation of the council.

But even more interesting were the allowances given to some members of the committee that would later be the cause of trouble between them and some officials at Harambee House Annex.

Korir Sing'oei, the legal advisor to the Deputy President, told The Standard that the council was a creation of a task force by the former Grand Coalition Government whose recommendations both former President Mwai Kibaki and ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga approved.

"This is important to be understood. Our work is to ensure there is a connection between legislation and the government policy. If the legislation architecture is different from the policy, then the policy intention would be lost," he said.

"Climate change is a multi-sectoral high level issue impacting every sector of our economy. The technical aspects thereof reside in the Ministry of Environment as prescribed in the EO (Executive Order).

"However, coordination aspect of government functions, including climate change issues, reside in the presidency based both on the Constitution (Article 132 (3,b) and the Executive Order No 2 mentioned herein. Furthermore, climate change coordination is too broad a matter for the ministry to handle, because it involves high-level decision making on policy statements from various ministries affecting implementation of government projects," Sing'oei explained.

At first, some members of the committee had agreed to the creation of a council, but trouble started when information leaked that there was a plot to deny National Environment Management Authority (Nema) oversight on matters of climate change.

"The proposal that the Office of the President be the coordinating ministry appears mischievous and suspect as the role of the presidency as director and coordinator of the functions of ministries and government departments is well captured in the Constitution.

"The natural ministry should be the one for the time being responsible for matters relating to the environment," said a source in the presidency who did not want to be named.

The council had been proposed under the old Grand Coalition Government on the recommendation of a task force headed by then Environment Permanent Secretary Ali Daudi.

Ottichilo said the committee has collected views from stakeholders who have said the council, if it is to be created, must be under the Ministry of Environment.

"I will be going with what the stakeholders have said. We have gone round the country talking to stakeholders and what they have said is that the council should be under the Ministry of the Environment and the Cabinet secretary shall be the chair. There is no technical capacity in the presidency," he said.

The government has since created the Legislative and Inter-Governmental Relations Office within the presidency to keep track of priority Bills in Parliament.

The department had on January 14 this year Sh200 million as its budget for the period up to June 30, but the National Treasury only allocated it Sh100 million.

The department also requested Sh415 million for the current financial year (2014/2015), out of which Sh200 million is meant for mobilisation and is marked "confidential".