The delegation strategy adopted under the 1997 Local Government Act transferred to Local Governments, including cities, municipalities, districts, municipal divisions, town councils, and sub-counties, a number of powers and functions, including specific responsibilities for service delivery. This strategy also streamlined powers exercisable by the Local Government, which included planning and budgetary powers, where the District Council was designated as the planning authority, with the power and duty to prepare a comprehensive and integrated development plan that incorporates plans of lower-level Local Governments, while reflecting grassroots needs. It is from this premise that Local Governments have the right to formulate, approve and execute their (balanced) budgets and plans, in adherence to the budget and available revenue, under the National Development Plan, for submission to the National Planning Authority.
Under the District Development Plan system, District Local Governments are required to be assessed against pre-set governance criteria (minimum access conditions) and performance criteria. The district technical planning committees are responsible for collecting and integrating plans of lower local governments in order to allow for bottom-up participatory planning and budgeting. The minimum access conditions determine whether Local Government is eligible to receive a local development grant, in order to empower it to fulfill its responsibilities, in addition to the taxes that the Local Government levies, and charges.