Assembly History

Kenya’s constitution that was promulgated in 2010 created the devolved system of government at county level with the aim of bringing development closer to the people. This has led to the creation of two systems of government namely, national and county government.

Vihiga is one of the 47 county governments that came into existence. The Vihiga County Assembly, which is the legislative arm of the County government, has made great strides in ensuring that its functions and responsibilities benefit the people to realize meaningful development and assert itself as a model Assembly worth emulating.

At the helm of the Vihiga County Assembly are the Speaker Hon. Christopher Omulele C.B.S and the Clerk Hon. Ambaka Kilinga who ensure that the Assembly runs smoothly.

One of the challenges that the County Assembly of Vihiga has had to deal with is lack of sufficient physical infrastructure to carry out is mandate as stipulated in the constitution.

The buildings that were bequeathed to the Assembly by her predecessor, the County Council of Vihiga, were derelict, run down and at extreme disuse by March 22, 2013 when the Members of the County Assembly elect were sworn in.

The County Assembly embarked on a massive project to construct new buildings and renovate the existing ones to provide ample and friendly working space for MCA’s, Assembly staff and other offices at the time.

Key among the achievements that the Vihiga Assembly boasts of is the modern Hansard equipment that will enable fast transmissions of Hansard reports.

The expansive debating chambers has a spacious gallery that hosts the media, members of the public and diplomats to ensure openness and transparency in the Assembly’s proceedings.

Security is of paramount importance to render safe key official records, more so to secure the assembly against the ever present security threats.

As aforementioned, One of the core mandates of county assemblies is to provide a legal framework through which the county executive may implement development for the benefit of county citizens.

This function is primarily achieved through passing of laws introduced as bills by the executive. The Assembly has had vibrant debates on numerous bills brought to the House at times making amendments to the same or referring them back for fresh drafting with recommendations with the sole purpose of ensuring that laws passed besides being beneficial to the people of Vihiga also conform to superior legislation like Acts of the national assembly and the country’s constitution.