The Government of Kenya was represented by Mr. Simintei Ole Kooke, Deputy Director of Water Resources at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation .In his opening remarks, he reminded members that the Ministry is hosting the KWP Secretariat at their headquarters in Maji House for free and will continue to support KWP in various projects. He observed that KWP had been formed with the support of Kenyan Government in 2003 and hence, the Ministry of Water has a long history with KWP and would like to see KWP recover from previous challenges and move forward.
Drawing from his previous involvement in KWP, Mr. Kooke requested members to manage conflict without personalizing issues and pledged the continuous support of his Ministry which is also a core partner in KWP. He wished members fruitful deliberations and stated that the Ministry was keenly following the process.
GWPEA Regional Coordinator and Regional Development Communications Officer were also present to support the process. The Regional Coordinator, Dr. Ahmed Eldaw gave a presentation depicting an overview of the GWP and GWPEA activities and programs in the region with emphasis of potential programs in Kenya (WACDEP, Water-NAP, GNI-Plus), including regional programs – IDMP-HOA, a concept to Adaptation Fund on strengthening drought resilience for small holder farmers and pastoralists in the IGAD region among others.
The presentation defined the accreditation process and status of KWP. It was clear to the General Assembly that the only pending requirement for accreditation of KWP by GWP was related to Governance, all other accreditation requirements were fulfilled (sufficient number of partners, minutes of constitutional meeting, adopted statues, host agreement, work plan and budget).
During discussions, it was noted that the main issue affecting the performance of KWP was governance and it was very important to address it. Members agreed to apply the Constitution as it is and see in near future if there are articles that need change or clarification for better performance.
It was unanimously agreed via a vote that the quorum for such meetings will henceforth comprise members who were physically present plus those who had sent apologies, since apologies constitute agreement with the outcomes. After a head count and reference to apologies received, the Secretariat confirmed that the necessary quorum for the meeting had been achieved.
Members voted to nullify the 2014 and 2016 elections and all official positions in the Steering and Technical Advisory Committee were declared vacant so that members could vote in new officials. As a result, the General Assembly elected Mr. Peter Macharia as the new Chair, John Mark Atinga as the new Deputy Chair and Mohammed Sheikh Noor as the Executive Secretary. Mr. George Sanga was confirmed as the Program Officer (non-elective position). The same assembly elected members of Technical Advisory Committee in line with the Constitution.
The new steering committee made a commitment to reinvigorate the partnership and make sure that it fulfills its mandate of promoting water security and climate resilience in Kenya in line with GWP Principles and Guidelines.