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IATC team informed IGCC the purpose of the meeting which was to check on the progress made  by IGCC .The chair informed IATC that their budget for the exercise had been approved stating that their work plan is behind schedule and that they will forward their report to IGRTC on 28^th February, 2020.

The meeting was graced by IGRTC Chief Executive Officer Mr.Peter Leley who urged the IGCC members to soldier on with the work to its fruitful completion by having an assets register for all the county assets.

Remarks from Team Leader, IGRTC Dr. Billow Khalid

He emphasized the importance of the whole exercise and that everyone involved should take it seriously. He informed the meeting that IGRTC is ready to offer technical support and intervene where necessary to make the exercise a success.

The M&E team visited West Pokot County on 22^nd January 2020 led by the team leader Dr. Raymond Nyeris .Due to landslide disaster that struck the county in late 2019 ,the IGCC team started the exercise in January 2020 . All the sub-committees had only undertaken desk review of the baseline inventory and identification of the assets and liabilities within the departments in the county headquarters. Dr. Nyeris met the county secretary for a briefing on facilitation for the IGCC members. The county secretary requested the chair and his team to draw a budget for five days for his approval to facilitate the IGCC to commence verification in order to meet the given timelines.

Inter Agency Technical Committee (IATC) paid a courtesy call to the Kakamega County Governor H.E. Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya on 23rd January 2020. IATC informed the Governor that   they had come for a 2^nd phase of Monitoring and Evaluation of identification and verification of assets and liabilities of devolved functions in the county and to give a technical support and quality assurance to the process as well address any emerging issues.

 The IGRTC member Prof Shanyisa Khasiani who was part of the IATC   informed the Governor about the importance of the M&E exercise to his county . The team thanked the Governor for his corporation in the exercise by approving the budget and looking for all means to facilitate the team. He promised to support the team throughout the exercise.

IGRTC hosted Nepal delegation on support for Fiscal Federalism in Nepal on 5^th February 2020 to benchmark on how IGRTC through the Summit manages to provide a forum for consultation and cooperation between the National and County Governments on all matters related to their respective mandates, success stories and challenges faced.

In attendance were Director, Summit and COG Affairs, Ms. Agnes Muthoni, Director, Functional Analysis and Transfer of Functions, Mr. Mahat Shalle and Resident Consultant, Dr.Joseph N. Kosure.

They discussed IGRTC procedure for settling disputes without litigation, such as arbitration, mediation, or negotiation between different forms of governments.

With the adoption of the federal governing system in Nepal, the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission has been established in the constitution of Nepal to ensure the equitable distribution of natural and financial resources available in the country in order to implement the allocation of state power between the three levels of government.

Effective mobilization of financial and natural resources is a prerequisite for the flow of services to the people, promoting cooperation, co-existence and coordination by the union, state and local governments. This Commission plays an important role in ensuring financial transfer and balanced and equitable distribution of natural resources between the three levels of governments within the jurisdiction provided by the constitution.

The Governor H.E Governor Granton Samboja thanked IGRTC for according the county government an opportunity to present the dispute on revenue sharing as mandated by law.

The County Government reported that the community in Taita Taveta had and will always support the conservation of wildlife. However, it was observed that the mode of conservation employed by KWS was one that maintained a colonial structure, which had failed to address the human/wildlife conflict, and in its place had elevated wildlife over human life. This means that when communities were attacked and killed by wildlife they were never compensated and when compensated the process takes almost fifteen (15) years or more.

Further, the county informed the meeting that due to the fact that Tsavo National Park occupies 62% of the entire county where communities accrue no economic benefits while less than 12% is left for farming and settlement whereas the rest of the land is in the hands of large private estates and public land respectively. As a result, the county had experienced high economic migration to other counties due to land scarcity, which has forced communities to seek employment in other counties.  On the other hand, migration to other counties has exacerbated the situation further, where the county has been struck off from the equalization fund due to population decline and as a result lost funds aimed at bringing the county at par with other counties in the provision of basic services.  In conclusion, the Governor pleaded with IGRTC to mediate on the dispute as a matter of urgency since IGRTC provides for the establishment and utilization of Alternative Dispute Resolution.The Committee is focused on facilitating this process.