Jubilee in twin strategy to scuttle referendum

Johnstone Sakaja

Kenya: The Jubilee government is working on a twin strategy to devolve more funds to pre-empt the governors' push for a referendum and puncture the Opposition's crusade.

The ruling coalition, perhaps acknowledging the futility of trying to convince the governors to abandon the referendum push altogether, has reportedly resorted to exploring a parliamentary route to address the county chiefs' key demand for more county cash.

The constitutional amendment to devolve more funds is seen as a more politically viable option as it will also give Jubilee the much-needed breathing space to concentrate its efforts on ways to torpedo CORD's push.

The clamour to seek an alternative means to appease the governors seems to have gained urgency after last week's talks between President Uhuru Kenyatta and six governors critical to their referendum campaign failed to yield a compromise.

It is for this reason that the Jubilee coalition is set to appoint an 11-member committee to review issues raised by the Council of Governors (CoG) with a view to hammering out a compromise to avert the looming referendum.

The coalition wants to explore possibilities of amending the Constitution by a parliamentary initiative to, among other things, increase the allocation to county governments from the current 15 per cent to at least 40 per cent in line with its manifesto.

The ruling coalition says it has opened discussions with governors who are set to launch their own collection of signatures for the Pesa Mashinani campaign at the weekend in Bomet and Kakamega counties.

Members of Jubilee's affiliate TNA – MPs, senators and governors – met last month at a city hotel and resolved to appoint a technical committee to draft a Bill that would be introduced in Parliament, but the process was delayed by what the coalition says is the broadening of consultations.

TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja and Secretary General Onyango Oloo yesterday said discussions were in top gear and they hoped to unveil the technical team within a fortnight.

"In one or two weeks' time, we will be putting it (team) together since more consultations are ongoing to come up with a team to draft a Bill," Mr Sakaja said.

Jubilee says part of the reasons for the delay was an indication from even CORD governors of their willingness to be incorporated into the discussions.

"There is an indication that even non-Jubilee governors are interested in that route. Instead of developing a road map that is from one side, we have deemed it better to develop a non-partisan approach being driven by counties. We are still consulting and are talking even to governors from CORD," Senate Leader of Majority Kithure Kindiki said.

This came even as CoG announced it would be launching its exercise on Saturday in Bomet and Kakamega on Sunday after it was pushed back from last week.

"Our referendum push is still on. We shall launch the drive in Bomet on 20th and Kakamega on 21st September, 2014," CoG chairman Isaac Ruto posted on the council's Twitter account.

However, Jubilee says it plans to woo the county chiefs to abandon the plebiscite by inviting them to a negotiating table and finding legal mechanisms of addressing their grievances.

This is despite the fact that some of the governors' demands can be addressed only through an amendment of the Constitution that must be subjected to a referendum.

"We will bring the Bill to the House and if CORD fails to give you two-thirds, that will tell us they have rejected Pesa Mashinani because we know CORD does not really need a referendum but a political contest to make them relevant," Sakaja added.

According to Mr Kindiki and Baringo North MP William Cheptumo, the technical committee will separate the issues to be addressed through amendment of the Constitution and necessary legislation without referendum.

"The main issue is money for counties and we shall strike a deal on how to address that. For instance, if we make sure accounts are up to date, we will unlock an additional almost Sh100 billion per year to the counties," Kindiki said.

Mr Cheptumo added: "The route for a referendum is not the best, but we have existing mechanisms that we will use to revise allocations to the counties. When our teams meet, they shall explore all the methods that can be used to review the allocations."

Deputy President William Ruto assured county governments at the weekend that the Jubilee administration was committed to ensuring the success of devolution.

"I want to assure the county governments that they have our support," Mr Ruto said in Meru.

The Deputy President spoke only days after President Uhuru Kenyatta said his Government was ready to negotiate with the county chiefs and other leaders agitating for a referendum.